Wales’ quizzers achieved a number of notable highlights, but also suffered some major disappointments at the Celtic Nations Quizzing Championships in Edinburgh.
The Individual event saw the Welsh team captain, Mark Grant, score 81.7 points to regain the Celtic Nations title from his long-standing rival, Mark Henry of Ireland on 79.4. Scotland’s now-legendary strength in depth was however in evidence once again further down the standings, meaning that they took the highest score from the event in the Overall competition, tallying 1120 points to Ireland’s 778 and Wales’s 460.
In the Pairs event it was Ireland’s Mark who came out on top, teaming up with Dave McBryan to score 76 points and retain that title in some style. Their compatriots Lorcan Duff and David Lea finished 2nd on 69 points, just ahead of Mark Grant and Gareth Kingston of Wales on 68. However once again it was Scotland who claimed the advantage in the overall standings, taking 726 points to Ireland’s 584 and Wales’s 379.
The Team matches saw each nation’s A, B, C and D squads facing off against each other twice, once on each day of the event. On day one, Ireland kicked things off by taking three out of four matches against Wales, with only a draw in the C match preventing the whitewash. Ireland followed that by winning their A and D team matches against Scotland, before Wales stunned the hosts by winning all four matches.
When Ireland took three out of four matches against Wales in the reverse fixture on day two, there was a chance for the Quizzers In Green to overhaul Scotland in the overall standings. The Blue Wall responded superbly, taking three out of four matches against both Ireland and Wales, although the one Welsh victory came in the A match and was secured despite the enforced absence of team captain and Individual champion Mark Grant. Those results translated into 1006 points for Ireland in the overall standings, with Scotland scoring 817 and Wales 744.
Many congratulations are of course due to our friends at the Association of Scottish Quizzers, who retained the Overall title with 2663 to 2368 for Ireland and 1583 for Wales. Our thanks must also go to our host venue at The Voodoo Rooms, together with everyone who had a hand in organising what was yet again the biggest renewal of these championships.
But our greatest and final thanks must go to the record travelling squad of 17 quizzers who represented Wales over the weekend (especially as for the first time in recorded history, we managed to get them all in one place for the squad photo!) It really is the case that these tournaments are all about the people who attend and the friendship and camaraderie that results so it really would be impossible without them.
The Wales squad at the 2019 Celtic Nations Quizzing Championships in Edinburgh