Turf insider December 2024
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Contents
Round winners – November 2024 (Round #173)
Congratulations to the winners of round November 2024, a round of firsts and upgrades for each: Fashven from Scotland turfed home his first Gold to add to his three silvers, Nicos from Berlin added his first Silver to his bronze, and magnusn from Stockholm, with his first Top 3 finish and his first C, took the Bronze medal. Well done all!
Upcoming events
If you are organising an open event, don't forget to write to insider@turfgame.com a couple of months in advance to get the information about your event into the newsletter :)
December is Advent Calendar time! There are again two to keep you entertained and challenged this year. There is still time to join in, with both allowing tasks to be completed by end-Dec. Thank you to Turf Skåne and PlanetGary.
- Following tradition Turf Skåne have an X-mas calendar with turf missions and book prizes, as usual starting 01 Dec. The tasks can be found here https://turfskane.com/julkalendern-2024/
- Welcome to the PG Turf Advent Calendar 2024, devilishly devised and craftily created by the mischievous editor of Planet Gary for turfers anywhere in the Multiverse to try their hand at, pull their hair out and most likely scream with frustration. Who will win the prestigious Golden Turfman?, a unique special award lovingly hand-crafted in the Planet Gary Bike Shed. See the famous PG blog for notes on how to partake, and the daily tasks - https://planetgary.org.uk/pg-advent-notes-2024/
2025 begins with a bang, or maybe a calm gathering of turfers at the traditional Turf Skåne Nyårslöftet, now in it's ninth year. It is a closed foot event, and will be held in Malmö this time on 1st January 2025. More info here: https://turfskane.com/2024/10/26/nyarsloftet-2025/
LuleåIce'25 will be held Saturday, March 15, 2025, following the success of the first LuleåIce event last year. It is an open event on the ice outside the centre of Luleå, with the same concept as LuleåIce'24 i.e. skates, skis, run, walk, but not bike or anything with a motor. More info will come at the beginning of 2025.
Congratulations to the winners at LusseTurf in Västerås on 8th December 2024! The prizes went to Gusmasen in first, ripe in second, and to MrSnyten in third place.
Bonanza 2025: 7th of June in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
The first Bonanza outside of Sweden will be held in Edinburgh in June 2025, and is a must for all. Planning is in progress for a fun-filled long weekend, with the Bonanza itself on June 7th, and extra events such as ESOCWalter's legendary 'Crazy' event around it. Come and enjoy Edinburgh City with it's seven hills and climb our volcano - Arthur's Seat. Or walk/cycle along the Firth of Forth at Cramond and Portobello. Take the World Heritage zone at the Forth Rail Bridge, neigh at the Kelpies, wonder at the Falkirk Wheel (that is a beam!) Glasgow, Stirling, Inverness - with nearly 13 thousand zones in Scotland, and two English regions nearby, you won't be short of things to do. Please pre-register your interest by completing this form, and join the 48 already pre-registered. See you in Edinburgh!
A favourite get-away to the west coast of Scotland
One of my (féarglas) favourite places to visit in Scotland is the island of Great Cumbrae, by Largs, and nearby Ardrossan and Irvine on the west coast. A short ferry ride from Largs, Cumbrae is sometimes referred to as the ‘Island of a Thousand Bicycles’, though possibly an exaggeration compared to a busy Stockholm cycle path! It has a (zoned) 16km circular cycle around the coastline, with spectacular scenery and stunning panoramas.
My favourite spot/zone is FintrayBay, where I sit and enjoy delicious ice-cream while soaking up the peace and beauty of the bay. You pass a memorial to two Midshipmen of HMS Shearwater, which sank close to the Northern part of the island in 1844, and 'Hush Hush', a WWII listening post. Novelty rocks seem to be a thing with the unusually painted Indian Rock, the shapely Lion Rock, and the fun Crocodile Rock in Millport town. This is one of the island's most iconic fun landmarks, a must have photo. The Cathedral of The Isles, also in Millport, is Britain’s smallest Cathedral and was my unique 7500 zone in May 2022, a moment shared with my son on our wee road trip.
Turf Goals for 2025?
As 2024 draws to a close and 2025 approaches, you may be thinking of setting a Turf goal for next year. Possibly it will be just to stay in the same division or maybe to get that wanted medal or rank, attend the bonanza in Scotland, or maybe even a country explorer? Many ways to play, many goals to choose from, something for everyone.
ChilliFarmer went ambitious with his goals in 2024 - to win 12 consecutive R (region) medals. And he has done it! - winning his 12th consecutive R (region) medal on 1st December. Bravo! From his home region of North West England to further away South West England, there were 4 different regions amongst the 12 wins - the other two being East Midlands and Wales. All conquered in 2024.
There was a strategy to make the most of living near a region boundary. Rather than just take the same zones each round to potentially win his home region of North West England, he took an equal numbers of zones in three or four regions. This gave an opportunity to choose the easiest target towards the end of each round. He also needed to understand and predict, for each region in each round, what other turfers in these regions were likely to do. And had to watch out for anyone else also trying to steal. (I am reminded of ESOCWalter and his R medals in NE & NW England, changing regions in the dying hours of the round. Just 10 minutes before round end for NE England!)
There are not many active turfers where he lives and most zones are only worth +1. Less interesting than turfing in Sweden. If you pick unpopular areas here, it is possible to hold some zones all round. However, you need thousands of them to get a big score, which requires lots of travel and planning and turfing in new areas. His highest round total points was 1,813,929 points, in round 168, setting a new North West region record, and while not enough for the gold nor the silver medals (??!), it secured him a bronze medal.
The hardest part of the challenge was not telling anyone about it, for fear of getting 11 months in and then someone disrupting it. It was a nervous time for the 12th R, with only a few days of his year long challenge remaining. Unknowingly, FeTaTo turned up on a unique hunt when ChilliFarmer was in South West England. Particularly worrying, as she busied herself taking zones, but luckily on this occasion, she had already taken more in Skåne earlier in the round and did not move over to SW. Phew, the 12th R was secured.
ChillFarmer's goal for 2025 might be a bit easier - any 12 medals. Whilst you can never have enough R/region medals, there are some easier medals such as aquaman, trainer or assists.
Turf Picture of the Month
This months Turf Picture of the Month is from Rymprak. It was taken during the "All light on Uppsala" - light festival (8-24/11) - BigTorgZone
If you have a Zone picture you want featured as Turf Picture of the Month, send it to insider@turfgame.com. Please include your Turf nick for recognition!
Turfa lugnt/Safe turfing! And wishing Munin a fabulous holiday down under!
//féarglas
