In the beginning
In the beginning, before the competition began, I was expecting nineteen competitors and eleven arbiters. That is one arbiter for every two competitors. This is more than enough and means arbiters will get the chance to chat with competitors and generally relax during breaks instead of hiding away in the mysterious arbiters room being all secretive. I’m confident that the competition will be simple to run and feel quite relaxed about it prior to the event.
A few new competitors had confirmed to me that they would attend and this is perfect. It is the whole reason for the event. So that new people can learn from the experts.
Every year, one or two competitors and arbiters say they will come and then, they don’t turn up. Probably feeling bad about letting the organiser down, they sometimes say nothing so, the organiser finds out about it on the day. This is always a worry for organisers but, if the payments are made online in advance, most of the worry about this is removed and extra arbiters can be found. You don’t want too many either because it will push up the price if the bill includes food since the arbiters don’t pay. The competitors pay in the price and it’s a nice, albeit indirect way of saying thanks for the help.
To help save money on hotels I offered to put some people up. Globe-trotting is not exactly cheap as many of you know. There should be a house-full.
The event for an organiser always begins long before any travel starts. It’s not necessarily hard work but, it does take planning and can turn into hard work if you are not prepared.
Prior to the event, I had requested translations. Phil Chambers had created the papers on my behalf along with Jennifer Goddard. Phil has created the papers for the last few years and I factor the cost of this into the price of the event. Creating the papers can be costly because of the amount of ink used for the Abstract Images and Names and Faces events. Phil is far more efficient than me at doing this as you can probably imagine. It takes me a week at least if I do them. Phil is better at using computers than I am and does not need to type in every binary digit and number individually. Having Phil and Jen in this way in a great help to me and I always appreciate this a lot.
Even so, if anyone wanted papers created because they are starting a new competition, I would suggest they do it themselves, as I did when I first started, and ask an experienced person for advice as they do it or, by the rule book as I did previously and, follow it to the letter, still asking questions.
It will give you a feeling of the effort these people put in to making the rules and a greater understanding of them. There are rules for making papers just as there are rules for competitors. For example, many of the words are already images. It’s not meant to be easy though so, 30% of the words will make you use your head. Numbers on competitors papers and empty boxes on recall papers have to line up exactly. If they do not, the arbiters could take days to check them. If, after that, anyone wants Historic Dates made, feel free to ask. I love making them and find them very funny but, make them yourself the first year, to get a feel for the maximum number of words you can put in a line, also, to take into account that there may be more words in a line after translation; making them in need of shortening or changing. It’s a good lesson.
Translations
Translation of papers is an expensive option. If you have to pay a translator it will bump up the cost of the cost of the competition significantly so, avoid this like the plague. There is a large memory community and most people are happy to help. Two people can translate a paper each for instance. Both in the same language but, with one doing Random Words and the other doing Historic Dates. You cannot use Google or Bing Translate for the Historic Dates. Really. You need them to checked by a real person that speaks the language.
This years translators were Mark Nissen, Corinna Draschl and Idriz Zogaj. Not being great at sending attachments, they didn’t get the papers for translation until the last minute and so I had to ask Phil to send them on account of my uselessness at sending attachments via email. Thankfully, they did them at the last minute for which I am eternally grateful.
Competitors travel arrangements are in place and I have a record of who is going to be coming and what time I have to meet them at various locations. They come from all directions using planes, trains, automobiles and bicycles but, not skateboards. Timing is key. All the competitors are generally coming at different times over a period of days so, i’m comfortable everything will go smoothly. Unless my car breaks down, which seems likely at any time. My father has agreed to be the emergency back up so, I won’t have to worry about leaving someone stranded in a foreign town or city.
I left the cleaning of the house until the very last minute, as I was very happy everything was going to run perfectly smoothly. Well, sort of everything. I’m expecting Marlon to give the competition some kind of problem. I need to be at home anyway, to communicate with people since quite a few are staying at my place and I plan to do it then, just checking the internet and my phone at regular intervals.
Panic !
Phil Chambers normally bring the papers and Speed Stack timers with him as, he happens to live a few hours drive away. The weather is normally warm on the last Saturday in March but, not this year. For the first time in years it’s been snowing. This doesn’t seem a problem to me. The worst snow usually hits the high ground and I live in the mountains and it seems fine. The news says it’s bad where Ben lives but, Ben comes on the train and I can’t imagine it’s so bad the trains won’t be running.
I get an email from Phil a few days prior to the event. Phil lives in a village in no-man’s-land. He’ll have to take the train. It’s too hard to tell if it will rain and clear the snow and, the Friday before the competition it’s a bank holiday. Phil plans to get a train but, the train times will make him a little late and he will have to get up in the early hours to catch it. He’s left with only one option. To send me the paperwork via a private courier. Royal Mail and the normal postal service will be off work so, this is going to be expensive. It’s the best part of £100 !
This is suddenly a major concern. I have not factored this into the costs as the temperature is normally around fifteen degrees centigrade but, it’s still below freezing. There’s nothing else for it.
Normally, I get some one to take care of the buffet. This time, the only option I can think of, to meet the cost obligations, is to make it myself. I actually quite like doing things like this and would choose to do it but, I would much rather spend the time chatting to the new competitors and giving them handy hints for their first competition. It seems unlikely I will get time to do this now as I also have to drive to towns and cities to pick up some competitors who will be staying at my place. Time is going to be of the essence.
Visitors are either on their way or already at their hotels. First-off, I expect Cristine Barao (Eon Lee) from the Philippines. There are two Filipino teams and Cristine is in the team headed by Robert Racasa, as are nearly all the mental athletes that are known to the memory community. She has been staying near London for some time and it was touch and go if she could make it to the competition due to travel costs. She has booked up with a very cheap travel company called Megabus, which takes you across the length of Britain for about £20 so, she will be able to make it to Cardiff. This is just over an hour from my house and she going to come the rest of the journey on a fold-up bike, like the ones I am used to seeing in the cities and flat areas.
The ride will take her a few hours and, it would be a nice ride if the weather was normal and if the South Wales Valleys were flat. They aren’t. In fact, it’s called The Valleys because it’s mountainous. The SAS train near here in the winter because of the extreme terrain. It’s more suited to USA Memory Champion Nelson Dellis than someone with a folding bike with small wheels. I have never seen anyone ride one of the small wheeled bikes in the Valleys during my lifetime. People would have spotted this and think she is mad if she should mention to anyone her cycling journey. It’s her dream bike though and she got a sponsor to lend it to her. I decide to pick her up after she has ridden for two hours or so, and maybe passed one or two mountains but, I don’t tell her this because something may go wrong and I don’t want her to get her hopes up.
I know Cristine’s planned route and know that I can just turn up out of the blue, somewhere between Caerphilly or Blackwood. This will mean she won’t have to ride all the hardest mountains. People here only have mountain bikes so, it would be a nightmare for her. Our foreign-to-her country has these strange contraptions called roundabouts, which don’t exist in the Philippines. To make it worse, it’s icy !
I ask for a regular text update from her and sure enough, she tells me she’s in Wales. Time is as expected. So far so good. I’m expecting regular messages as to her whereabouts and told her to write more than one place name that she sees on the signs. This will enable me work out where she is.
She’s in Caerphilly, says the next text a couple of hours later. Near a supermarket with a street name and I happen to know the exact location. Bonus. I’m cleaning the house last-minute so, I carry on and plan to leave soon. She thinks she will get to my house around 6pm. She thought it would be sooner until I told her about the hills as, she calculated the distance. It will still take longer but, I don’t plan for her to find that out.
We exchange a few messages and all are street names, common street names here. I try Google Maps. I can’t work out where she is. One called Graig makes me worry since it’s the closest and I know it. It’s really steep and would mean she’s lost or going the wrong way. Going the wrong way there is bad. Cars struggle to get up the hill in first gear ! It’s in a place familiar to most of you. Ben sometimes mentions it in his great memory blog, as a play on his Welsh sounding name. Pontypridd.
It’s now nearly 7pm and she’s been riding for four or five hours in the freezing cold but, she may be hot since it’s hard work biking here. I doubt it though, she only saw snow for the first time recently as, she’s from a tropical climate. It takes five minutes to get down the hill and seems as if you are constantly climbing. I’ve known she was off course for a while now but, I can’t work out where she is. She gets a postcode from a passer by. It looks wrong but, at least I can look it up.
The postcode says Cardiff ! It can’t be, she came from there ! Then again, she’s taken hours. At this rate, she will most likely arrive at well past midnight but, I have to go to a different city at 11pm to pick up Nick Papadopoulos, the Greek competitor and that’s an hour drive from my home in a different direction. It will take me another hour to get back and I have to be back at 12pm because that’s what time I have to pick up Jonas and Florian from Sweden (without actually driving to Sweden).
I set off for the hour drive to the postcode location without telling Cristine. She says she’s on an isolated mountain road. I think I know the one and sure enough, I get there and it’s the one I thought of. I know the area pretty well fortunately. That explains the lack of signposts. I phone her and she’s near a train station with bike folded and hitch-hiking. People push bikes here instead of riding them. I tell her to go there and stay there and also not to hitch-hike. There is more than one station there so, I checked the small one first but, she wasn’t there. It has to be the other one.
I get there but, no Cristine. Then, perfectly timed, she appears, much to the relief of both of us.
“Do you know where you are ?” I ask her. “Caerphilly” she says in an accent that surprises me. She sounds like she’s from the same place as USA Memory Champion, Chester Santos. “You know that text you sent me saying you were in Station Road near Morrison’s 5 hours ago ?” “Yes” she says. “Well it’s a ten minute ride past those houses” I say, as I point in the general direction. It’s called Station Road as it leads to this train station. You spent the past five hours dtiving in a big circle over some mountains I tell her.
Who Dares Loses
A very experienced SAS training instructor, aged around 40, who knew the mountains like the back of his hand after 20 years of doing his SAS training there, died in the mountains up the Brecon Beacon mountain range because the weather can change that fast. Many other people have also died. If you come to Wales, under no circumstances should you attempt to cross the Brecon Beacon mountains unless it in a car. A reliable car. These are within walking distance of Ebbw Vale and go on for miles into mid-Wales. The people that usually end up dead are experienced mountaineering types that aren’t local and go up when the weather is fine. Then, the weather changes suddenly, really suddenly. You may not be able to read your compass and map due to the extreme weather. The boiling sun may turn to gale force winds, hail stones bad enough you can’t open your eyes and if you can, the fog is thick. It’s bizarre that this can happen when, moments before, the sky is clear and it’s sunny but, in seconds it held me to the floor once as a kid in the scouts. I literally couldn’t get up. Obviously I was not alone. This extreme weather only happens in the Brecon Beacons and not the Valleys, they just happen to be next to each other and I live on the edge. If you like hiking and fancy freezing to death, welcome to Wales ! There’s a good reason the SAS train up there. They pick the time when this extreme change in the winter is most likely. Go alone, as the SAS instructor did to prove to himself that he could still do it, and so much as a twisted ankle and you’re dead. Only teams go there normally. This is part of the SAS test to get into the SAS in the first place. Holes and crevices are everywhere on the ground but, they aren’t easy to spot. If your headed to Abergavenny, you’ll follow the signs for Merthyr Tydfil first. It is here that a wrong turning will direct you toward the Brecon Beacons.
Anyway, both relieved and laughing we head off home. (I don’t think she knows how relieved I was but, she will when she reads this). Only an hour in the car and we’re there. When we get home, I continue to clean the house as I wait for the time to pick up Nick the Greek. Other competitors are coming at times that i’m not sure of.
Can't see the Megabus (Maybe it's a mini-Megabus)
10pm and i’m off to Newport City to get Nick from a different Megabus. I get there early but, a Megabus turns up and no Nick. I text him asking him if he knows where he is. He texts back saying he left Bristol about 50 minutes ago. Perfect, I tell him he should be here in 5 minutes. I can’t park in the bus station so, I give him some simple directions from the bus station to the car parking area.
Half an hour goes by and there’s no sign of Nick. Something is wrong. The Megabus has long gone. I saw it through the buildings as it went past a road to the station, presumably to turn at the roundabout. It can’t take this long to get your luggage off the bus surely ? Even if the bus is full of people. I phone him. He says he is here and has been for over half an hour. I can see half the bus station and think he must have misunderstood my directions but, they were very clear and simple. He passes the phone to a passer by with some local knowledge. Strangely, the bus decided to park at a normal bus stop rather than the bus station. It’s less that a minute walk to the bus station and, as I had been patiently waiting, thinking Nick was waiting to get his stuff but, he’d been stood on the bus stop freezing for nothing.
I send a text to Florian and Jonas telling them I will be late. No delivery report though. I still don’t know if they got it. I text them both. Now it’s their turn to be freezing. My car is making me worried now. It doesn’t like going for a long time and when it gets hot it makes strange and worrying noises. The timing belt sounds like it might go but, I only had a new one last year so, I decide to take up religion and pray.
Young Icicles
I pick up a cold Swedish team without a hitch and it’s over for the night. I put them in the living room to defrost overnight. We got home around 1am, a time I normally go to bed but, I have things to do. By this point I’m getting stressed about lost time as I didn’t sleep well the night before and I end up losing a lot of sleep again.
Nick and I sleep in the kitchen. He has some comfy sofa cushions, I have a fold out sunbed that broke at Ben’s house at last years Friendly Championship. I had intended to borrow the good one from my parents but, it was too late to get it.
I wake up and the plan is to make a buffet, not with a clock, with a bing sound but, it’s not the microwave though ? It came from the living room., I think ? Ah, I remember, I need to check on the Swedish team. They haven’t defrosted properly and I intelligently deduce by elementary deduction, that they will thaw in a few hours. The competition papers were delivered to my parents house the evening before just in case I was out. If it wasn’t a bank holiday they would be dropped off at the Post Office sorting office for me to pick up but, it’s closed due to bank holiday. I decided to leave it there so the crowded house of competitors can’t accidentally memorize all the papers.
At this point, I feel quite relaxed again. All I have to do is drive pretty locally, I hope !
Also, I have to make a buffet but, I like making and eating sandwiches and things and I have all day to do it so, we go off for breakfast and chat a bit and I do some more cleaning and go shopping for fresh buffet food, cups and things, whilst leaving the competitors at home to relax before the big day tomorrow.
Time is flying by and I have no idea where the other competitors are. My impeccable judgement was wrong, I’m really tired and, the tiredness is making simple tasks confuse me.
I crack on with making sandwiches for the buffet as Jonas, Cristine, Florian and Nick talk memory. It’s dark again by the way. Then, a competitor shows up. It’s Darren Ferguson (Daz) from Newcastle in the North of England. It takes most of the day to drive from there. He must have a head full of Lego by now and I doubt he can put the pieces together, much like I’m feeling. He’s not staying but, I suggested he come to meet the competitors and talk memory with them instead of sitting in his hotel room alone. Also, it will be interesting for the foreign competitors to meet someone from Newcastle because of the accent. Most of England need one word to answer the question if the answer is a yes but, in Newcastle, it takes three words. They say something that sounds like ‘why eye mun’ and this means yes. No sooner than I blink and I get a message from Ryan Smith (England).
I pick Ryan up at the bus stop and that’s a close bus-stop fortunately. Time is against me as it is. I’m not sure he’s the right person when I see him. He has what appears to be an artists box for holding quite large paintings or something. I’ve never seen him before but, he has competed previously. I just haven’t seen his face. Ben put him on to me via email. I don’t know where Ben found him. In England probably.
It’s late in the evening, but I haven’t got long blonde hair any more because I had it cut for the competition and I need sleep really badly now. I’m really stressed and need to focus but, Nick insists on firing questions at me distracting me from the task at hand. He keeps offering to help but, it will be a question session that will make me lose concentration. Normally I would waffle away as I work but, today I can’t think.
Time is of the Essen (Essence)
Jonas von Essen comes to my rescue as does Florian Minges. They are giving memory tips to the less experienced competitors and this keeps everyone busy and out of my way. I pop in and out of the living room and Ryan is showing everyone the contents of his box. He’s made a memory game. It’s sort-of-similar to the game Zogaj that Idriz Zogaj invented but, it’s about 100 square pine-looking wooden blocks, with each side around the same measurements as Zogaj, but, it’s completely different, which Ryan has made and burned pictures on with a soldering iron. A six sided wooden block memory game. I’m intrigued but, I’m too tired and confused to understand the rules. My eyes are bloodshot through lack of sleep now. I wasted time being curious about the blocks and got further behind schedule.
Nick decides to pester me again by repeatedly telling me I need to go to sleep. I keep telling him that I can’t because the show must go on ! People have travelled the world to get here. I can’t exactly say, sorry, I was tired because I wasn’t really prepared.
Interruptions to the buffet production
As I continue in peace with some sandwich making I get a message from Marlon. Marlon represents one of the Filipina teams. He takes responsibility for all business related to the competition and tells me who he will bring. He messages me to tell me that a competitor has “egged off” as he put it. I explain to Marlon that it is too late and that the costs still need to be paid. He says “we will talk about it tomorrow”.
The messages keep coming as I refuse to negotiate. I feel as if he is trying to blackmail me by repeatedly pointing out that he is bringing six arbiters. Eventually, he agrees to take responsibility and pay the fee. It shouldn’t be a problem for him anyway, sponsorship money may be enough to pay for it. He’s staying in London for the week. I expect him not to keep his word though.
There's no 'why eye mun' in team !
It’s late again and I feel like I’m about to fall asleep standing up. Nick was right… It’s nothing I don’t deserve anyway, for not preparing and tidying up days earlier because I had time then but, I caught lazy-itis.
Daz has to go back to his hotel, having got lost on the way here and driving near the Brecon Beacons and realizing it was not the way, and then, a small army of mentathletes descend upon the kitchen. They know I will be up all night and turn the my kitchen into one big production line.
In only a couple of hours Nick, Ryan, Cristine, Florian and Jonas chop and dice things and make the food that I should have made, knowing that I’m starting to lose the plot since I’ve started talking gibberish by this point.
Headfull of Lego and can't put the bricks together
Daz Ferguson has left me a yellow Lego storage box that he bought for me as a present because I apparently said to him I had a head full of Lego, meaning I’m really tired and confused but, also it means mentally ill, in a sarcastic way. It seems appropriate now as it’s the early hours and with only three hours of sleep last night, during which I woke repeatedly, the same is going to happen again. Tomorrow I have to leave at 4.30 am, to go and pick John Burrows up. It’s already on the schedule and I’m getting worried about falling asleep at the wheel but, tonight I have a proper sun lounger to sleep on that isn’t broken and is padded so, the sleep I get should be good.
Sleeping in the kitchen again with Nick, I can’t sleep. I’m past exhaustion and there’s a ridiculously large air vent hole in my kitchen wall. It’s windy out and freezing and I end up staying awake until 2pm.
It's competition day !
I wake up early as planned but, I’m no longer looking forward to the competition. My eyes in the mirror look like I’ve been on a drinking binge all weekend, even though I haven’t had a drink for days. Off I go to get John Burrows. Normally he stays at my place the night before but, we never get much sleep. To us, it’s like Christmas and we are all excited normally so, we end up talking most of the night before most competitions and John wants to win his third championships title, the Triple Crown, so, he wants a proper nights sleep for once and James seems likely to smash him since he’s been too busy to train lately but, he does train regularly normally. I think James will win it meaning James and he will have a Triple Crown. Both have won it twice previously.
I wake up Nick Papadopoulos because he wants to come with me. We leave at 4.30am because it’s a two hour journey to John’s house and back plus, I have things to do after I pick him up.
The hour-long journey to John Burrows house is a very familiar one to me as I’ve driven there loads of times, for competitions as well as just to visit and chat about memory. Since Nick is from Greece and, he mentioned the Greek economy, I seized the opportunity to spend the next hour giving him the economic history of Wales since the war. After lots of talking and an hours drive, I notice I’m in Cardiff ?
The big city (we didn't build it on the rock and roll)
The confusion is rife now and Daz’s Lego box seems like more of a crystal ball. We are nowhere near John’s house. I realize it’s the tiredness and change my course. Twenty minutes later and we’re back in the same place in Cardiff. The exact same road. I’ve driven in a circle !
I know the way but, I can’t work out what’s happening now. I get concerned about the time and stick the sat-nav on my phone on. I can’t risk making a stupid mistake again.
If I could see the Rhondda one more time ? (It's a Welsh song about the area John lives)
We arrive in the Rhondda, the county where John lives and, would you believe it, I get lost again. Lost on a journey I know ! Again !
Hopefully Phil is on the train now. I’m running very close to the schedule but, I’ll still make it. Phew. Then, I take the wrong turn a few times on the way home. This is not good. I’m not getting lost in John’s area now, I’m getting lost in my own area, on roads I have driven on more times than I can remember. Literally a few hundred times !
I can remember the road numbers from here to Ben’s old house in Derby but, I can’t find my way home !
This is obviously quite amusing for Nick and John but, I have a schedule and if Phil is delayed, I’ll have to do more than I can cope with. The arbiters are inexperienced and will need guidance and someone will need to clock-watch to make event announcements and also mark papers plus check for cheating… Also, I’m increasingly getting worried that, if my car does break down, by the time my father comes to the rescue and we get back, we will have lost hours and I can’t only just make the schedule as it is !
Sat-Nav's don't speak Welsh
I bite the bullet and use the sat-nav. In the Welsh language it’s bizarre. There are no vowels in the words sometimes, sort of. Sat-nat in Welsh is like ‘mhert’. (Misused Hippocampus Electonic Repair Tool). We get home without any further problems. Back at the ranch, the team is ready to go and we have to leave immediately. Too many people for one car so, I drive to my parents, ask my father if he will deliver the buffet and mentathletes then, give him my house keys. He goes and picks up three competitors for me and it looks like we’re on schedule; just. There are no spare minutes in it at all.
It’s only a 20 minute drive to Abergavenny and another 10 minutes to the venue, which is in a quiet area outside the town. Yet again, I get lost on roads I know. These roads are pretty local to me and we’re going to be late. There’s no way to prevent it. Then, I remember I have a sat-nav ! Off we go through country lanes and the sat-nav takes me to the venue, sort of. There isn’t a way to get off the road to the venue, the sat-nav messed up but, we’re really close and it’s 9am so, I need to start the Names and Faces event !
What the Heck ?
By this time I’ve had a text from Hein van Heck, a new competitor from Holland whom I know nothing about but, see an opportunity for national records to be broken since, Memory Sports isn’t big in Holland yet and the team is pretty much just Rick de Jong so, if Hein knows, he may pick Rick’s weak spots if he knows enough about the sport.
My power steering broke a few days ago and I couldn’t risk taking my hands off the wheel to reply to him and couldn’t pull over for 20 minutes. He’s probably worried given the time but, I can’t pull over and I don’t want to kill us all. Hopefully he won’t get back on the train and go home.
As if it couldn’t get any worse, all this travelling has taken all the petrol and I put plenty of spare petrol in for any emergency event. I have to find a petrol garage or I’ll break down. The only one I know is on the other end of Abergavenny, which I remember because that’s where I did my driving lessons and test. I’m familiar with the area but, I can’t remember the way and I head for the town centre since I don’t know the name of anything for the sat-nav.
Freakish luck ! The driving examination centre, which is right next to the train station, is on the road I happen to drive and would normally know so, I pick up Hein on the way and apologise. Maybe subconscious I knew but, it didn’t enter my head at the time even though I knew the way.
We go to the garage, which is not far away and I ask for directions to the village hall. A local is confused and doesn’t want to guide me to the wrong side as I had done already.
I follow his instructions and also use the sat-nav. I get a bit lost first though, in some country lanes where there are few signs. The ones there are, are familiar names but, not familiar enough for a brain that has turned to mush to be able to work anything out. The sat-nav eventually gets us there. With the exception of Phil, everyone is there and looking relieved that we have eventually turned up at around 9.30am.
Easter egg-hunt
I enter the hall and, much to my relief, I can instantly see that nearly all the competitors are there. This means the costs will be covered and reminds me, yet again, that I should take payments in advance, via online banking, to remove the risk of loss, as well as the last minute stress I get every year because of my reluctance to bank online. Actually, I’d recently had all the stuff to do it. A little code making machine and I’ve set up an account with the bank so, it will be online payments in advance from now on.
One of the competitors tells me that the person that opened the hall (which I was meant to meet an hour before) would come back later but, there’s been a change of plan. They want the hall at 5.30pm ! I’m nearly an hour behind schedule as it is and I booked the hall until 6.30 to account for delays. I booked it a year in advance and checked weeks before hand that everything was okay.
Still, it’s a village of the sort where quiet pensioners live, which is why I chose it. I’m literally starting to sweat and I haven’t done anything physical. I rarely sweat anyway.
I still can’t remember who told me what the venue organisers had said but, it got worse. At 5.30pm there will be an Easter egg-hunt ! This is no quiet little old pensioner activity ! It’s a tradition where the parents hide Easter eggs and young, very noisy and excited kids who love chocolate, have to find them. Generally by shouting as loud as possible to tell each other if there is or isn’t an egg in some location. Given the time, they are likely to descend upon the place during Spoken Numbers ! An arbiters and competitors worst nightmare !
Panic !
I walk into the hall smelling and looking terrible because I didn’t get time to change or bath and I’ve been sleeping in these clothes for days because the kitchen is freezing and haven’t had time for a bath for days either. Sweating like OJ Simpson on a highway !
Mindlessly, I wander around the competition hall like a headless chicken, wondering where to start. The desks ! The desks need to be laid out to get the competition going. Everyone soon sees my manic confused state and helps but, something is bugging me, I can’t work out what it is.
It hits me like a brick, i’ve forgotten the papers ! Nooooooooooooooo
I left them at my parents house, a twenty-minute drive away ! Forty minutes there and back ! That will take me well past the 6.30pm time of the actual booking !
I’m on the edge of a nervous breakdown and tell the competitors about my stupid mistake. One of them, I can’t remember who, said, they are here, in the arbiters room. I took this with a pinch of salt at first because the papers were at my parents house and none of the competitors have been there and I haven’t asked my father to bring them. My father has a terrible memory. It’s so bad, he is the only member of my family that doesn’t call me Dai. He calls me Lawrence, Brian or Richard and occasionally Bob. These are his brothers and he gets their names mixed up too.
I get told, by whoever it was, that the papers are in the arbiters room so, it must have been a competitor that has been to the venue before or they know because one of them had told them it was the arbiters room.
I rush of to check. The box is there ! Even so, I’m in such a deranged panic by now that I rip the box open to check the papers are still inside, as if they may have been taken away by aliens. As relieved as I am to see the papers there and I’m not set back another hour, I notice that there are only three arbiters. There were meant to be eleven. One had text me at around 11pm the night before because he was ill but, all the others were definitely coming ! There were meant to be another three from the Philippines and I was assured only the night before by Marlon that they were here. I was hoping for some of the other arbiters to be there though. This is bad with this many experienced competitors. I grab some sheets and head off to start the names and faces event. I’ll have to explain the new rules for names and faces while they are memorizing and get back out of the competition room sharpish and explain them to the arbiters as well.
You are not alone, I am here with you-oo
I head back into the arbiters room and i’m really worried now. Competitors are ready and i’m not. I borrow John Burrow’s stop watch. I meant to buy one yesterday but, it slipped my mind (I forgot).
As I near the front of the room, it suddenly dawns on me that, that man stood at the front is Phil Chambers. I could see but, I was so confused at this point that nothing was making sense any more. I felt an instant sense of relief.
My relief lasted about two seconds. The arbiters were three Filippinos so, it’s their second language and they aren’t going to know the new rules at best. At worst, they won’t understand the rules at all. Normally this isn’t a problem. One arbiter three competitors is generally a good
balance. Some of the competitors are likely to put in good performances though and massively increase the amount of marking (in different languages).
Out of the corner of my eye, as I wander past, an arbiter does the hand movement of a drinking action to another arbiter. Because I look like I’ve been on a binge, have red eyes and have the general appearance of a tramp.
The competition starts. Here are the competitors:
1 – Ben Pridmore (England)
2 – Cristine Barao (Philippines)
3 – Darren Ferguson (England)
4 – Florian Minges (Sweden)
5 – Hein van Heck (Netherlands)
6 – James Paterson (Wales)
7 – John Burrows (Wales)
8 – Jonas von Essen (Sweden)
9 – Mary Dianquinay (Philippines)
10 – Mike Outram (England)
11 – Miki Lee (Hong Kong)
12 – Nikolaos Papadopoulos (Greece)
13 – Phil Peskett (England)
14 – Roy Lam (Hong Kong)
15 – Ryan Smith (England)
16 – Soeren Damtoft (Denmark)
17 – Wan Yuet Lung (Hong Kong)
Back in the arbiters room
In the arbiters room Marlon pays me for the missing competitor. This surprises me but, it’s necessary. He had plenty of time to inform me that the competitor was in fact still in the Philippines but, led me to believe everyone was here. One competitor is not enough to pay for the meals of seven people but, as I said, and there are now only three arbiters. This never gets mentioned. The closest it gets to being brought up is when Marlon scribbles out the name of one of the arbiters of my accounting plan, which I promptly snatch away from him since, I need to check-off payments as I get them.
Marlon introduces me to his wife. As far as he is aware, I know nothing of her but, I have seen her name in the Filipine press previously so, I know who she is, even though they don’t share a family name.
The other arbiter is Marissa Dianquinnay and her name is also familiar since she is the mother of Mary, one of the competitors. It’s important that arbiters don’t check papers for their family members for obvious reasons.
Marlon gives me a pen and says he needs a receipt. I agree and tell him I will do it later. He keeps on repeatedly about this and I say the same thing. I am happy to do this since, I know he is a company Director and he may need it for his records.
Competition in order of the World Rankings Page for ease of reference
Random Words
I expect James Paterson to win this; he’s good at the word related things and often beats Ben Pridmore. This is possibly due to him being Welsh and being surrounded by strange words that don’t contain vowels and seem quite illogical.
Ben surprises me by just beating James. Ben got 87 and James had 86. Close as it can be. Jonas comes in third with 70.
Wan Yuet Lung from Hong Kong gets 28 in this event. He’s eleven years old and speaks Chinese but, he did it in English so, I was really impressed with this result. It’s like Ben beating Boris in names but, doing them in Chinese.
Well done Lung !
Binary
Normally, Ben should smash this. He hasn’t overdone the training in recent years though and his scores have gradually been sliding so, I think Jonas may try it. Especially as, the other day while we were having breakfast, Cristine Barao mentioned how awesome his results were in Italy last week and Jonas responded with something like, yes, thanks, it was good practice ! Practice for what or something was her response.
Ben surprised me and got a staggering 930 ! (Explains the outburst of cheering I heard as well)
Jonas had 660.
Florian was next with 362. Normally this is an excellent result but, it looks less because of the extreme results of the other two. It’s only five minutes memorization time !
Names and Faces
This event was first and it is the hardest event to mark and would set us back more but, this is normal, we can make up loads of time when me mark the other events.
This event gets harder every year. It’s getting really hard. James is really good with strange sounding words as I have said.
James gets 37. Doesn’t sound much but, it was a hard slog. Nobody would have broken a record this time.
Numbers – 15 Minute
I wasn’t sure about this. Ben mentioned on his blog that he had trained recently but, even though he would likely concentrate largely on numbers, Jonas has been training regularly. I don’t think Ben will get past silver and I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets bronze since other competitors here are really good and could take silver off him if he hasn’t trained much.
Ben wins with 596 and I’m really surprised by this.
Jonas gets 524.
John Burrows 420. This also surprises me because John broke his training schedule for a few weeks and I know his training patterns and talk to him frequently. If he does this normally his results go downhill fast. Maybe sleep really is important after all !
Cards – 10 Minute
Regardless of recent training or lack of it, I expect Ben to smash this. He’s trained it so much in the past that I think he will have brushed up on his images during his recent all day training in preparation for the competition season. I hope he’s back, his country needs him. He may be English but, he’s still British and our country needs him too !
Jonas beats Ben ! I’m really shocked. It’s very close though.
Jonas had 270 (Awesome !)
Ben got 268
John Burrows, who a decade-and-a-half ago was the same as Andi Bell and Dominic O’Brien, hence his Guinness certificate, had 200. He did cards a lot back then but now, he trains all events so, his scores have gone down. Even so, This is still an excellent result.
Numbers – 5 Minutes
Jonas 300
John Burrows 198
Ben Pridmore 151
I’m writing the events in the order of the rankings and i’m not sure if it was this event but, in one of the numbers events, I marked Ben’s paper. My heart sunk as I did. He did loads of numbers on one of the numbers events and Ben had a couple of mistakes on a lot of lines and the score he had in whichever numbers event it was was no reflection on the amount he tried and got right. I didn’t want to be the one to tell him. I assume he didn’t know until Phil read the results out as they went along but, I can’t be sure since I missed all the announcements. I did hear lots of cheering at certain points. I assume this wasn’t one of them, for Ben at least.
Abstract Images
This event was one I had no idea on in the weeks running up to the competition. Even though you can glean some clues from the rankings, people often seem to suddenly improve their results. As much as this may be the case, I wasn’t expecting what I saw when I marked the paper.
Jonas – 401
Ben – 252
John Burrows – 200
Now, the strange thing is this: From these results you can clearly see that Jonas smashed it in a big way and nobody else stood a chance. But, I happened to mark that paper. I checked it twice. I can’t be certain but, I’m pretty sure that Jonas made far more mistakes in this event than any other competitor.
He filled in every single Abstract Image answer on the sheet !
He was obviously going for a world record and didn’t quite make it so, I had to deduct loads of points from his score because he’s not Welsh. 
Phil Chambers came in to the room and I asked if the world record was something like 460 odd as I couldn’t get a signal for my dongle to get on the internet and check.
Bad luck Jonas. Good luck next time though. Look out Germany ! Maybe this was what he was talking about when he responded to Cristine’s question.
Once again, the other scores are excellent and one person makes them look kind of rubbish. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jonas has clearly trained this event like a slave and performed awesomely.
Historic Dates
This is by far my favourite paper to mark and I usually have time to read quite a lot of the events. This time, I didn’t have time to read one. Remember the alignment of the papers I described ? Well Phil has this set out so you don’t have to read any words at all. It can be marked fast by putting one paper over the other and lining up the answer and memorization papers. Either the numbers are the same of they aren’t.
Jonas got a excellent 91
Ben got an excellent 76
James got 63 (I told you James was good at events with words in them didn’t I? )
Spoken Numbers
Earlier on in the day I was shuffling the cards for the first cards event. I did this in the competition room and it was about the only time I was in there during the competition. I noticed the window was open and I could hear Tweeting. Nobody had their smart phones on though so, it wasn’t Twitter. We were out in the country so, it was real tweeting.
It was a very relaxing tweeting sound and I knew it wouldn’t put competitors off, even though I knew they could hear it clearly. So, I left the window open.
But, as seems to be the only thing I have done up to now, I completely forgot about it. I forgot that is, until Phil was playing a sample of the numbers using his awesome new wireless speaker. I was only passing through the room but, Ben looked at the window as a tweet was posted in some tree. Just in the nick of time. Spoken Numbers need total concentration and I never expect any competitor to do well, even if they are at the top of the rankings.
Close shaves (I hadn’t shaved or gelled my hair either)
Ben and Jonas both scored and awesome 100 !
John Burrows barely gets the bronze with 68 closely followed by Florian Minges who had and 67.
They can all do 100 in practice but, this isn’t practice. Florian showed last week, at the Italian Open Memory Championship, that he could do 100 plus, and it’s looking increasingly like it’s not just a case of the World Memory Championships being dominated by the England, China and Germany. Teams. Sweden is looking serious about joining these elite teams. Only time will tell.
After Ben alerted me to the open window silently, by using Zoomy language, it was too late to leave as the first 100 numbers had begun. There’s a countdown now that is spoken and the windows were closed in the nick of time but, suddenly, my memory started working. EGG HUNT ! Panic !
I couldn’t leave the room. Luckily, it was the first 100 and a marauding gang of screaming kids hadn’t descended on the competition but, that doesn’t mean they aren’t about to. It’s that time !
The moment I could, I fled the scene to find the Chairman of the club outside who, somehow, seemed to know exactly what as going on. He had taken the kids to a park on-pain-of death. Phew !
Speed Cards
As we were setting the speed cards up, the woman who wanted the room back for the evening people came in a little later than expected and, understanding of my predicament and unwillingness to end the event early and send people half way around the planet and further because of a booking mistake.
I thought the woman was already there ages ago ! For the past half hour or maybe hour a woman sat by the door waiting. I figured it was the woman wanting her room for the other social event that was booked. A game of bingo !
I went to talk to her, I explained that, having had a discussion with the chairman of the place when I had gone out to terminate egg hunting kids, he had said it was okay to carry on and also to do an award ceremony.
He had invited the competitors to stay the evening and use the bar as well. I was due to announce this in a short time but, I didn’t want her to think I was winding her up or her for a ride. So, I explained that I wanted to tell everyone since, this wasn’t planned.
Didn’t I feel stupid when she answered. I didn’t care about looking stupid by now because we had made amazingly good time because Phil marked papers non-stop as well and he can mark fast.
The woman answered in a foreign accent that isn’t something I would expect in this quiet little village where foreign people are few and far between.
She was from Denmark and the wife of the competitor Soeren Damtoft ! Ha ha ha.
Anyway, we cracked on with the comp and here’s how it ended:
Ben gets 40.55
Jonas had 46.86
JB got 115.55
It's oh-oh, ver !
You probably know the results already which is why I wrote them in this order. But, just in case, here they are again:
http://www.world-memory-statistics.com/competition.php?id=wlo2013
Incidentally, if you like egg hunts then, The Friendly Memory Championships is the place to be. There are also loads of birds there as well as really good food. The eggs aren’t real chocolate though (unlike the medals I gave out later).
After the competition
No sooner than the competition is over that Marlon gives me a receipt that he has written. I read it and sign it saying that I am happy to do so since, he may need it to show sponsors as well as the tax authority in the Philippines. Still, I am suspicious. The receipt is only for the competitor who did not turn up. It would make more sense to get a receipt for the other competitor that did come.
After the competition I was still dizzy but, I had managed to focus like a laser on the paper marking. I had to re-check them sometimes after some serious eye-rubbing but, everything had worked out well and it wasn’t the the disaster I imagined earlier on in the day.
Still, I was dehydrated. Normally I have lots of liquids but, had been too busy panicking to have enough to drink. I had a drink and attempted to hand out some medals.
Believe it or not, I did have a few words to say but, my brain was long past remembering what my own name was, never mind saying anything in a sensible and coherent way.
I gave a list to Phil and asked him to let me see the results. I didn’t look at them. I just wanted to see the positions for the medals. I asked Phil if it was okay if I called out the names and Phil could tell me the scores after.
No surprises here; I forgot again.
First up was Wan Yuet Lung. I had taken a lot of points from him in the normal way where a competitor has memorized loads of stuff but, made two mistakes in each line and pretty much eliminated all his scores in some areas. I was really gutted about that but, even though he’s only eleven years old and speaks Chinese he gained more points in memorizing stuff in English than I expected.
Lung (The last name is the first name but, he also answers to Jack) won a gold medal for the Juniors. A few months difference and he’ll have still been in the kids. Maybe he’s twelve. Anyway, Phil checked it because I heard him asking Lung. Even so, I actually didn’t forget this and had checked in advance but, intended to mention it to Phil to be sure about the age thing.
My intention was to apologise to Lung because the medal wasn’t actually made of real chocolate and for Phil to tell me the results (which I knew I couldn’t memorize by this point - obviously).
I forgot. I gave him his medal, rambled some nonsense and did exactly the same thing for every competitor’s medal. I completely forgot to get the results from Phil. I had intended to ask what the cheering was for. I had some ideas but, I wasn’t sure for all of the events.
By this point, the bar was open and some tables at the back were full of bingo enthusiasts anticipating me getting it over with but, probably a little curious at the same time.
Best newcomers came next.
Bronze was won by Mike Outram, accompanied by dramatic music on the piano, suitable for a medal winner.
Another newcomer called Phil Peskett played it out of the blue. Nobody as far as I am aware knew he could play or that he would play. We knew there was a piano there because Ben played it early in the day. I don’t think i’d have even noticed it there if they hadn’t played it, even though it was in plain sight.
Silver medal went to Darren Ferguson. Daz as he is known, had only started a few weeks ago so, I didn’t expect him to get a medal above bronze.
Hein van Heck from the Netherlands (Holland) won the gold, hopefully making up for me not answering his text earlier in the day.
Hein also broke a national record for the Netherlands the for competition by memorizing 105 cards in ten minutes !
Best International Competitor Medal Came next:
Bronze medal winner was Florian Minges (Sweden)
Silver medal was Ben Pridmore (England)
Gold medal was Jonas von Essen (Sweden)
Welsh Memory Championship awards
James Paterson came very close to winning and ended up taking away the silver medal. I say taking away, he forgot ! He had to rush off before the awards were handed out so, I’ll get it to him.
John Burrows becomes Welsh Memory Champion for the third time (Triple Crown)
Other than a gold medal, John also wins the most prestigious egg-cup in Wales.
Also of note, John and many other competitors broke national records in their respective countries. Notably, John Burrow is now above World Memory Champion Jonathan Hancock in the rankings.
The rankings of Britain have changed and the top British athletes are as follows:
- Ben Pridmore
- Andi Bell
- Dominic O’Brien
- Ed Cooke
- Katie Kermode
- John Burrows
Best overall winners:
Bronze was John Burrows
Silver went to Ben Pridmore
Gold to Jonas von Essen
They all did a great job. Next year, I plan the same venue since, it’s ideal and doesn’t normally have and Easter egg hunt but, I plan to book it for the evening as well. A minibus to Pntypool is also easily arranged as the hotel there seemed popular with competitors this year. I’ll ask about it first though.
The chairman said he will provide a buffet in the day and the evening if we want as well as opening the bar. This is ideal because it means people can stay and chat about things. Sometimes they chat about memory. Well, they always they chat about memory. Usually resulting in the new competitors thinking, why didn’t you tell me that last week ? After hearing some tips from the experienced competitors who are competition hardened.
I did a best international competitor and as well as best overall medals just to create more confusion for Ben who had been really impressed with a particular medal he saw and also to share my confusion. It was obvious he wanted one anyway because he’s a big fan of Wales and there was a Welsh dragon on it. Hence the comment on his blog in Welsh:
Incidentally, Ben will organize the Friendly Memory Championships on May 26th and there are limited spaces available so, if you want to go, you can contact him on his blog. It’s very friendly, hence the name and it’s a great place to pick up tips from him and other pro’s. The location is quiet, beautiful, close to good public transport and the food is great.
My work here is done – Not
Soon, I need to drive some competitors to meet their travel obligations so, I need to sort things out fast. I need to pay people and sort out the paperwork and general mess left from the buffet as well as collect the payment from the competitors to be able to make those payments.
As I roam around in a fluster, Marlon seems to suddenly be tied to my ankle. He’s asking for medals for the Philippine competitors. I refuse this repeatedly, telling him that I do not give out medals for the sake of it. “People have to earn them Marlon” I keep telling him. “There is not medal category for best woman or best man”. Resistant to reason as always, Marlon refuses to give up and he knows I have spare medals. I start to feel very angry toward him and his constant nagging so, I give up and give him some medals. I tell myself that the girls will have something to remember the competition by. He gets some photo’s and leaves me alone to carry on working.
Everyone relaxes in the hall and those that aren’t driving hit the bar. We all chat for a bit, and as usual, there are are a lot of questions for the experienced competitors from those who are less experienced. Daz comes and thanks me for the competition telling me he had fun but, he has to go. We say goodbye and as he drives off into the distance I think, doh, I was going to ask him to help with transporting the competitors. My father had volunteered with this but, I told my father it wasn’t necessary as, Daz had volunteered to be a chauffeur prior to the the competition. Yip, you’ve guessed it, I forgot. This means multiple journeys in my car.
First off, I need to take Phil and Hein to the train station. Strangely, I manage to drive there and back to the venue without getting lost.
I get back and have a chat for a while. The only rush now is taking John Burrows home. He has an event he must attend in the morning so we had arranged that I would take him far in advance of the competition. There will need to be two journeys now and the car won’t like it.
First off, I take Florian, Jonas and Cristine back to my place. I manage to find my way home without incident, only to realize that I don’t have my key. I ask the competitors as I suddenly remember my father has it. I just drove past my parents house to get here. They live a few miles away. We leave again, to go and get the keys. It’s warmer in the car so, the competitors stay with me. That is, the competitors except Jonas who, being from Sweden, thinks the ice is warm here.
I get to my parents to hear that the competitors have been there for some reason. No time to ask why though. I get the key, drop them back off at the ranch and head off back to the venue. Once again, without a hitch. I’m starting to go past being tired again.
Back at the venue I get Johnny Mnemonic, Nick the Greek and Ryan the Block. We go to take John home first; and hour and a half drive. I asked them to do this knowing that I will be barraged with questions about memory techniques and feel that this will keep me from falling asleep at the wheel if the tiredness comes back over me.
We reach John’s house and I go in for two cups of coffee but, Nick the Greek and Ryan the Block are fast asleep in the car so, we leave them there. After half an hour, I’m back on the road, competitors wake briefly but, soon drift back off to sleep.
This time, I get home without a problem and without the need for a sat-nav. The coffee seems to be working.
Back at the ranch, it’s the early hours of the morning. The competitors are still up talking memory. Soon, they go to bed and so do I.
I get a message from the Philippines. A competitor that did not come tells me that she could not come without parental supervision and to apologise. Her parent was also meant to be an arbiter.
This is common sense and I would not expect her to travel the world alone. She is concerned about having to pay for the competition. I reassure her that it is okay because Marlon has paid for it because his notice was too late and that I knew he was aware they were still in the Philippines. Still, Marlon was demanding the payment from her. I told her not to pay him. Marlon was responsible for all payment and payment co-ordination and he had plenty of time to notify me but, decided to mislead me into believing everyone was in Britain instead and that I was only notified about her late the night before because Marlon probably wanted to keep the cash.
As they sleep, I can’t. I end up staying up until sometime past 4am. I have to be up by 10am as the team from Hong Kong are coming at 11am. After that, I need to take the Swedish team home but, not to Sweden.
I wake up late. It’s nearly 11am and still, I haven’t had time for a bath and smell like a tramp. I potter around and chat a bit and we get some photo’s in. No sign of the Hong Kong team. I wonder where they are.
I take Jonas, Florian, Cristine and Ryan to the train station and shoot off rudely without seeing them off.
There's no business like snow business
When I get back, I see Roy Lam’s car parked up the road. Roy, Miki and Lung are there with Nick. They apologise for being late and we go out for dinner in a nearby town.
As we were there, they showed me many photo’s and Roy shows me a Google Map of his journey plan. It seems the road was closed on the most obvious route but, I had no idea so, I couldn’t tell him. I apologise and he laughs. He explains that it is okay because he just went a different route. I know the routes and it’s a place where mountains are black. It’s a horrible sight for tourists. He sees my confusion and shows me some more pictures.
The hills there are not black, they are covered with snow. Lung, who has been to Wales before but, when the temperature is normal, has never seen snow. So, they got out of the car and took some photo’s. It’s a memorable thing and something you don’t see in that part of the world.
We discuss some more things and then, we all leave, separately. Roy, Miki and Lung have a long drive back to London.
Nick and I go back to my place and I still don’t know when he will go home. He needs to book is travel back. I’m glad of this because it means I can just relax. I have a few cans of lager, we talk memory, Nick goes off into the kitchen on his own to do some studying books his travel and eventually, I end up going to bed early. This time, in an actual bed.
Probably the best sleep in the world. I really need the sleep and Nick wakes me up to take him to Newport City again. It’s dark and something like 5am. Off we go to Newport and the Megabus is already there. Perfect. Another hour drive and it’s all over. It’s like boxing day. A bit of a downer. I feel fresh and want to chat memory with all the people but, everyone has gone. I catch up on emails and spend most of the day in a bit of a daze.
The aftermath
I start checking press releases and comments from competitors trying to remind myself of what happened in order to write this article for Josh Cohen’s Mnemotechnics website. It’s all about memory.
My first port of call, the press of the Philippines. Immediately I am concerned. It’s a corrupt country as I have already learned from keeping an eye on the press there. The first thing I learn is that, a Filipino competitor is is the winner of a gold medal for being the best female mental athlete in the world. After reading about ten more Filipino press releases in different publications, I find it’s the same everywhere, albeit with slightly different untruths.
I become stressed. I don’t want any corruption related to the competitors that attend the competition and seek to correct it.
The author of nearly all the events is a familiar name. He was meant to be one of the arbiters and often writes for Marlon. He didn’t come. He came to Wales but, he stayed at the hotel in Pontypool instead. Strange, he was meant to come to report on the Philippines for his country.
The mental shovel is out
I’m starting to think clearly again. I keep checking news releases. The same names keep appearing along with the same lies. Bubbling with anger my interest kicks in. There are no translation misunderstandings here. I, and many people I haven’t mentioned, work every year to get this and other competitions noticed to raise awareness in education. Especially for those who are poor and do not think they have a good enough education to ever make anything of their lives.
The Murdoch Scandall
By now I’m doing a spot of investigative reporting of my own. I find a company. Nothing out of the ordinary but, I wonder why this reporter is blatantly lying about our competition. There were good enough results about the Filipino teams to make good honest reports.
Soon, I have tracked down a list of company members. I was aware of the company already but, didn’t look into it. I had no reason to as it is common for people interested in memory to set up a company. They are intelligent people so, they like to make money and that’s a good thing. It’s very honourable to earn you money by helping others I think. Many of the articles I read talked of things such as honour. False honour is all I read.
The company and it's directors
Philippine Memory Sports Council Incorporated
Almario Marlon Bernardino (Responsible for all competitors and arrangements for the team)
Robert Pangilinan (The reporter)
Marissa Dianquinay (Mother of competitor)
Mrs. Mendoza (Mother of competitor that couldn’t come but is expected to pay)
Aurelio de Leon
I wonder if there has been some argument amongst these Directors now. Marlon obviously knew that one of the competitors couldn’t come and even after informing me at the very last moment, he maintained that there would be six arbiters. Maybe they are at the beach spending sponsorship money, if they were even here at all. All this makes me wonder what the sponsors would think.
This worries me. All I ever hear from the honest Filipinos is about corruption in their country. I talk a lot to people in that country. Mental athletes and other people who have never been to a memory competition.
Why are both competitors that are the children of Director of this company the only ones invited to the competition I ask myself ? I asked all the other competitors myself and they weren’t invited. Cristine is in the other team and came of her own accord as she was in England already so, I merely had to send her an official invitation so she could extend her visa if needed.
After this something leaps to my mind. Prior to every event, the Filipino arbiters asked some questions about each paper. It’s pretty straight forward and they understood all the rules clearly and could say those rules back to me.
But, toward the end of the competition, Phil seemed to increasingly be bringing more and more incorrect papers back into the room for re-checking. The reason we have double checks in the first place is because it is easy to make a mistake and this is quite normal but, when Phil explains the rules, all of a sudden, the arbiters act as if they were completely unaware of them.
Phil explained that you cannot give points for wrong answers. In fact, points must be deducted in some cases. Strange I thought, as I carried on correcting their papers and feeling all the more suspicious. Mary had particular difficulty in understanding simple subtraction. I don’t expect any different from someone I don’t really know and put it down to poor educational standard in the Philippines. We all have calculators anyway.
So, you can imagine my surprise when my digging uncovered that Mrs. Dianquinay is the Director and owner of some companies. Basic maths would be essential for such a job. How else can you deduct stock. Then, much to my even greater surprise, I find that one of her Directorships is with a company called The Academic Tutorial Services Centre in Antipolo City.
Anyway, maybe business is different in the Philippines. I am interested to know what this is all about and I’m waiting for answers. Until such a time as I receive these answers and remove my suspicions of corruption, I am no longer prepared to host one of the Philippine Memory Teams.
- The other Filipina team headed by Robert Racasa and containing Grandmasters and many title holders however are not related to this. No suspicion has ever arisen in regard to this team and they have shown themselves to be very honourable.
