It was back down to Derby on Sunday for the National Final of the CIU Quiz. After qualifying some months back I had been very much looking forward to this event. With teams travelling from around the country to compete and some top class quizzers on hand there was always going to be little room for error. Indeed with the winning score turning out to be 66/69 that gives you an idea of the standard. I am over the moon to say we managed 3rd Place with a really strong team effort winning ourselves a bit of cash and some beer!
The format didn't differ from the heats which I was glad to see, as in terms of team quizzing, it is pretty much perfect! It kicks off with a GK round coupled in with connections. We actually managed to make a strong start and some last minute inspirations took our score to 9/10. The dropped point actually put us in about 8th place as a good few teams opened with full houses.
I am a huge fan of list style questions and Round 2 involved having to list the 8 states through which Route 66 passed. Luckily, one member of our team had actually trailed most of the route so using his memory and the teams American Geography knowledge we managed a full house keeping us in contention.
The Tv and Film round caused us most problems. Again, a few last minute ideas managed to save us but missing questions about Fireman Sam (J999 was a the big clue in the question), Fawlty Towers (given the address we couldn't fathom out the most obvious answer) and the film in which Dustin Hoffman played an old etonian (Hook) set us back a little bit.
Picture round followed and went well. I particularly enjoyed the pictures of Board Games to identify but had never heard of Buccaneer which is one we missed.
A GK round followed in which we managed to bring some points back and a full house on Sport pushed us into contention for a placing. The last round was a set of 12 written questions and a Who Am I? round in which the earlier you handed an answer in the more points were awarded. We played both well with full marks on the written set and other than one team we were on par with the others in the Who Am I?.
Some great team work had given us a chance and we managed 3rd place. Kevin Ashman lead a team into second place and the winners with the outstanding score of 66 were a team from Newport (I will find the name out). Congratulations to all involved. A great day all round.
It was nice to see some familiar faces and finally meet David Clark (Mastermind winner and author of the far superior Life After Mastermind blog). A great day all round and from the heats to the finals the CIU quiz has been one of the most enjoyable quizzing events of the year in my book! Roll on next years!
That's how I feel about it Dan. It probably couldn't happen at a worse time of year, just after the beginning of the school year, and at the time when one of our best players ALWAYS chooses to go on holiday. It's a long, long journey, and Sunday is nowhere near as good a day for us as a Saturday would be. Yet for all that I wouldn't miss it for the world.
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