A happy balance - for some
The final round of President's Cup competiton for 2009 delivered a question set which was praised for interest and balance - and the praise is borne out by the closeness of the scores with only six points separating the worst and best scores of the day. This closeness also emphasises how little there is between the teams leaving the competiton very open going into the new year.
Sussex clinched the Christmas number one spot with a narrow win over London.The quiz may be said to have hinged on the Welsh language skills of competition debutant Ian Orriss - a real stroke of luck for the South coast team as Ian was 'recruited' for the Cambridge team but was unable to travel to Bedfordshire. Not that your correspondent will bear any grudges...
It was a fruitless journey to Flitwick for Cambridge as Beds & Herts were too strong for them. After their travails last year, B & H may have been regarded as competition outsiders but they are handily placed with three home matches to come in the second half of the season.
Finally, Oxford and Mastermind Club shared the spoils in the first draw of the season. The away team seemed set for a narrow win but Oxford answered both of the last two questions correctly to rescue a precious point.
| Pos | Pre | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | Avg | 2s | Pts | Form |
| 1 | 1 (-) | Sussex | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 203 | 160 | 43 | 40.60 | 52 | 8 | LWWWW |
| 2 | 3 (+1) | Beds & Herts | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 180 | 176 | 4 | 36.00 | 51 | 6 | WLWLW |
| 3 | 2 (-1) | Mastermind Club | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 192 | 190 | 2 | 38.40 | 64 | 5 | WLLWD |
| 4 | 5 (+1) | Oxford | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 170 | 178 | -8 | 34.00 | 38 | 5 | WWLLD |
| 5 | 4 (-1) | London | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 183 | 173 | 10 | 36.60 | 51 | 4 | LWLWL |
| 6 | 6 (-) | Cambridge | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 147 | 198 | -51 | 29.40 | 40 | 2 | LLWLL |
| Beds & Herts | 44 - 39 | Cambridge |
| Peter Briercliffe 15 Fred Filby 13 Gareth Kingston 12 | Roger Bennett 15 Stuart Solomons 11 |
| London | 43 - 45 | Sussex |
| Robert Willer 16 David Lea 10 | Kathryn Johnson 17 Olav Bjortomt 12 Paul Sinha 10 |
| Oxford | 42 - 42 | Mastermind Club |
| Ian Bayley 14 Mike Billson 13 | Mark Grant 16 Ken Emond 10 |
| Pos | Table | P | W | D | L | Avg | B | Pts |
| 1 | West London | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 47.50 | 5 | 33 |
| 2 | North London | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 46.13 | 1 | 21 |
| 3 | Outer London | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 41.25 | 2 | 18 |
| 4 | Central London | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 44.13 | 3 | 17 |
| 5 | South London | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 36.50 | 0 | 10 |
| 6 | East London | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 37.00 | 0 | 8 |
| Pos | Division 1 | P | W | D | L | Avg | B | Pts |
| 1 | Broken Hearts (C) | 20 | 17 | 1 | 2 | 52.90 | 14 | 84 |
| 2 | Pericardium | 20 | 16 | 2 | 2 | 50.95 | 9 | 77 |
| 3 | Nomads | 20 | 14 | 2 | 4 | 50.15 | 12 | 72 |
| 4 | Atletico | 20 | 13 | 1 | 6 | 47.85 | 8 | 62 |
| 5 | Allsorts | 20 | 12 | 1 | 7 | 47.35 | 4 | 54 |
| 6 | Old Itonians | 20 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 45.55 | 9 | 53 |
| 7 | Telstars | 20 | 8 | 0 | 12 | 42.00 | 5 | 37 |
| 8 | Barb | 20 | 5 | 1 | 14 | 38.70 | 5 | 27 |
| 9 | Pineapple | 20 | 4 | 1 | 15 | 37.65 | 4 | 22 |
| 10 | Waterloo Sunset | 20 | 3 | 0 | 17 | 37.40 | 1 | 13 |
| 11 | Five Bells | 20 | 2 | 1 | 17 | 38.10 | 1 | 11 |
| Pos | Division 2 | P | W | D | L | Avg | B | Pts |
| 1 | Gray Monks (W) | 20 | 17 | 0 | 3 | 48.75 | 9 | 77 |
| 2 | Banana Splits | 20 | 15 | 2 | 3 | 43.65 | 3 | 67 |
| 3 | Rosslyn Park | 20 | 13 | 0 | 7 | 39.85 | 5 | 57 |
| 4 | Eclectics | 20 | 12 | 1 | 7 | 40.80 | 4 | 54 |
| 5 | Accies | 20 | 12 | 0 | 8 | 38.25 | 3 | 51 |
| 6 | Sons of the Dessert | 20 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 39.40 | 6 | 48 |
| 7 | Mealy Bugs | 20 | 9 | 0 | 11 | 39.10 | 4 | 40 |
| 8 | Ovalytes | 20 | 8 | 1 | 11 | 38.20 | 4 | 38 |
| 9 | Outcasts | 20 | 5 | 1 | 14 | 34.05 | 7 | 29 |
| 10 | Wharfside | 20 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 29.70 | 2 | 14 |
| 11 | London Scottish | 20 | 3 | 0 | 17 | 29.90 | 1 | 13 |
| Pos | Table | P | W | D | L | 2s | Pts |
| 1 | Sussex | 10 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 117 | 16 |
| 2 | Mastermind Club | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 122 | 11 |
| 3 | Oxford | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 81 | 11 |
| 4 | London | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 103 | 8 |
| 5 | Beds & Herts | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 94 | 8 |
| 6 | Cambridge | 10 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 89 | 6 |