c4countdown

Well, you guys have asked for another CO-event up north, and now, Jeff and I can again deliver!

We are heading back to Huddersfield, with another new venue to announce. This time, we're using Canalside, the Huddersfield Town F.C. training complex just up the Leeds Road from the stadium, at HD2 1YJ. It is a fully modern, up-to-date facility and ready to cope with the hustle and bustle of a CO-event. (For a look yourselves, go here: http://www.canalsidesports.com)

And we have a new format to announce too!

The day starts with a 20-round qualifier of preset rounds: LLNLLNLLNC, twice. Then in the main event, everyone will be put into groups of eight, to play seven 10-round matches (LLNLLNLLNC).

Assuming there are 32 entrants, each group will consist of two A-grade players who qualify 1st-8th, two Bs from 9th-16th, two Cs from 17th-25th and two Ds from 26th-32nd, to be drawn and assigned randomly. You then simply work your way through the seven other contenders in your group.

The qualifier will use regular points scoring, but the rounds in the matches will use 1/0 scoring, so there's a possible "ten out of ten" to aim for in every match. For winning a match you'll score two points, and it's one point apiece for a draw (so no tie-breakers!). This will give us a winner in each group, and then a statistical overall winner, taking account of overall scores and goal difference.

COHUD2014 will take place on Saturday 15 November -- doors open at 9am for a prompt 10am start, finishing at 6pm. The admission price is set at £15 and includes a hot buffet lunch. The cash bar will be available too.

As per usual, payments are available:
- By PayPal (jeffrey_clayton@hotmail.com / james_r_robinson@hotmail.com);
- By phone (Jeff: 07595 690 249 / James: 07817 750 544);
- By cheque (address available on request).

We look forward to having you join us up in Huddersfield

Confirmed Entries (22):
Callum Todd
Ben Wilson
Stewart Gordon
Chris Marshall
Tom Hargreaves
Thomas Carey
Phil Jarvis
James Laverty
Steve Ball
Tracey Mills
Jack Worsley
Ciaran McCarthy
Anthony Endsor
Elaine Broadley
Jason Turner
Jonathan Wynn
Mike Forrester
John Vivian
Andy McGurn
Andy Platt
Mike Pickering
Mark Davies

In; payment sent.

Callum Todd wrote:In; payment sent.

Indeed, looking forward to having (one of) Yorkshire's finest there already.

Sounds great, in for sure

Should be able to make this one hopefully

Please put me down as a maybe

I'm interested - if I'm free that weekend, I'll be there.

John Vivian wrote:I'm interested - if I'm free that weekend, I'll be there.

Sweet, you'd be more than welcome to come, John.

Is the concept of having preset rounds for the qualifier finalised? I think normally drawn rounds would be better and fairer, although a relatively minor detail wouldn't keep me from attending.

Regarding the numbers, will you presumably do one of each plus a second one large?

Andy Platt wrote:Is the concept of having preset rounds for the qualifier finalised? I think normally drawn rounds would be better and fairer, although a relatively minor detail wouldn't keep me from attending.

Regarding the numbers, will you presumably do one of each plus a second one large?

In terms of the qualifier, the presets will involve a mix of varying levels of difficulty in the letters, so no need to worry as much in that.

The numbers will be like the Aces Trophy solo rounds, with increasing levels of difficulty, no guarantee of all versions being used, we could easily decide to go with 2x 6S, 1L and 2L, if we please.

Sounds good, a few days after my graduation ceremony as well so should be available for this!

Put me down as a maybe please.

Richard Priest wrote:Put me down as a maybe please.

No worries, my good man.

Sadly I won't be able to retain my title as I'll be refereeing in Wolverhampton. Hope you all have fun though!

Kirk Bevins wrote:Sadly I won't be able to retain my title as I'll be refereeing in Wolverhampton. Hope you all have fun though!

See someone's a bit too big-time for Countdown these days..

Just under 76 days to go now til COHUD2014. And train tickets are now available for all of you lovely people coming from further afield.

Don't forget to book your hotel rooms too, if you need them. The obvious choice would be the Huddersfield Travelodge (http://www.travelodge.co.uk/hotels/530/ ... ield-hotel), which is on the same road as Canalside, and is just 10 minutes walk away.

I'll be driving to this one. Paid. IN

Train takes 20 mins from Leeds and station is about a mile from venue. There are always loads of taxis outside the station. A town centre hotel http://centrallodge.co.uk/ if you want to stay in the centre (ring for best price).

Chris Marshall wrote:I'll be driving to this one. Paid. IN

Train takes 20 mins from Leeds and station is about a mile from venue. There are always loads of taxis outside the station. A town centre hotel http://centrallodge.co.uk/ if you want to stay in the centre (ring for best price).

Payment received, Chris.

And the same goes to Rob Gibney and Stewart Gordon, who take us up to 5 in.

With just over 8 weeks to go, let's see if we can get a big rush of players signed up.

Definitely in for this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tracey Anne Mills wrote:Definitely in for this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just what I wanted to hear, Tracey.

JUST 6 WEEKS TO GO NOW, FOLKS!!!

payment sent, IN!!

James Laverty wrote:payment sent, IN!!

Yup, indeed you are, James. And along with Phil Jarvis, we've now hit 9.

Now at double figures, but we would certainly like plenty more of you, just under 3 weeks to go now.

In payment sent to Geoff

Just a little memo for everyone: Canalside have been in touch to ask for definitive numbers, for logistics and catering, in good time ahead of Saturday 15th.

We must therefore ask that any further payments, or definite expressions of interest even if you can't pay immediately, are confirmed to either Jeff or myself no later than midnight at the end of Friday 7th.

In turn, this affords us the opportunity to prepare the structures for groups and matches on the day.

If you have any queries, just get in contact with me on here, or on Facebook, or by the email address above.

Now up to 19 entrants thanks to quite a few this week. Just looking at a couple more to make sure we past 20.

More info to follow.....

James - with the England game kicking off at 5.00pm on Saturday, if possible, can you try to squeeze the schedule with a view to finishing earlier than 6.00pm - e.g. start early if everyone there, shorter lunch break etc. Cheers

Anyone going to be in Huddersfield tonight and fancy meeting up for a drink? I'm getting there around 8ish

Philip Jarvis wrote:James - with the England game kicking off at 5.00pm on Saturday, if possible, can you try to squeeze the schedule with a view to finishing earlier than 6.00pm - e.g. start early if everyone there, shorter lunch break etc. Cheers

Trying to use football to dictate the timing of a CO event. Whatever next?

Many thanks to Jeff, James and all involved for a great day. Pretty chuffed to have finished 5th after multiple brain farts in the qualifier and first few games. Well done to Jack on his 5th co-event title and commiserations to Callum- your first win can't be too far away.

Looking forward to the next CoHud already!

Big thanks to Jeff and James for another superb event, excellently planned out and run as always. Congratulations to Jack who was the deserving winner. Was great to meet a lot of new faces, in particular Mark Davies who attended the event at such short notice. Would be great to see you at future events Mark, especially next year's COLIN!

Nice to meet you too Callum. I really enjoyed my first CO event. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming.
James and Jeff did a great job organising.
Despite getting 3 of the top 4 in my first 6 games I thought I did OK finishing top 10.
I'm really looking forward to COLIN now.

Many thanks to James and Jeff for organising a great weekend. Good to see people for the first time in ages, as well as some for the first time completely.

Hopefully will see you all at COLIN