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@SteadyCam
Sponsors
Middleburn - British made cycle components
Magic Bike Polo - London based bike polo products
Chunk Clothing - British based bike polo clothing
Ethos
Minimal prizes, maximal polo. A two day, four against four, hardcourt bike polo tournament with the aim of showcasing top quality polo to the good people of North Hampshire & Surrey borders, with a long term view of starting regular polo sessions in the area.
Format
Saturday - 10 teams, 5 rounds of swiss, 15 minute games. Top 8 go through to Sunday.
Sunday - 8 team double elim, 25 - 30 minute games.
Time
Courts open from 9.00 - 7.00 Saturday and Sunday. The tournament will run from 10.00 - 6.00 unless everyone thinks they can make it for 9.00.
Court & Location
The Wavell School - GU14 6BH
The court is big, 53 x 39m hence the 4x4 format. It's the caged area in the middle image with Hackney Downs on the right for comparison. The boards are now gone but a cage similar to MCR has been installed. There is a slight widthways slope, it's grippy, plays well in the wet and drains well. The tarmac isn't as dense as Downs but it was only laid a couple of years ago and is in good condition. There is a row of drains down one side but these are not too bad. We will have access to a decent leaf blower so bobbles shouldn't be an issue. The main court is surrounded by practice courts, but without fitting boards, I wouldn't think these were of tournament standard. There are water and toilet facilities on site.
Travel
Farnborough is really easy to get to by train with 3 different lines; Farnborough Main, Ash Vale or North Camp stations being the closest to the action. South West Trains are generally pretty chilled about taking loads of bikes on trains as long as it's not rush hour.
Driving is easy too with the M3 and M4 nearby. It's also pretty close to Portsmouth for those wishing to come from across the Channel, and relatively easy to get to from Heathrow and Gatwick airports. The court is very close to the Basingstoke Canal if anyone fancies boating over. The places are limited at the tournament, however it's a nice ride from London if anyone wants to come and watch.
Registration
Unfortunately due to having only one court there are a limited amount of spaces. Teams will have one week from now to submit their proposal below. I'd like it if teams were based around location as previously explained but this will not be strictly enforced. As the tournament aims to showcase polo talent to the community, teams will be chosen based on merit. Don't hate on me if you don't get selected.
I'll sent an email to the team captains once a list of teams has been placed below. Team name, team captain, all four members and a list of your 3 preferred t-shirt colours need to be stated. You'll need to supply your own t-shirts. The cost is £50 per team with any money left over from the tournament being donated to the LHBPA.
Accommodation
Runways End Outdoors Centre, Laffan's Rd, Aldershot, Hampshire GU11 2RE
http://www.architecture.com/Images/RIBATrust/Awards/2013/RegionalAwards/SouthSouthEast/RunwayEndOutdoorCentre/RunwaysEndOutdoorCentre2DanielKeeler530x301.jpg
Runways End is a Riba award winning complex located by the Basingstoke Canal, and less than 5 minutes ride from The Wavell School courts. It is an amazing complex featuring 12 rooms with 5 beds in each room (can sleep 4 persons if required). Each room has its own toilet/shower room, there is a self contained kitchen and dining room, open courtyard area, drying room and large camping area for any potential overspill.
The earliest arrival on site is 9.00 on Saturday and checkout is 4.00 on the Friday but you can ride from the court and sort this in between games though. Pay attention to when your games are though or there'll be trouble.
The highly recommended Scout shop on site is open Saturday mornings for all your camping needs and sweet, sweet patches. There is secure internal parking for bikes, either in the main hall or in your room but keep it tidy though yeah. Bring a sleeping bag and pillow case. There is a fully equipped kitchen and dry room on site.
The rates are very reasonable at £13.90 + vat pppn which I think is £16.68 pppn. There are some forms to fill in and we'll need to be on our best behaviour but we can deal with this closer to the time. This place is where the party is at so everyone is encouraged to stay. If you don't want to stay here, let me know in your registration.
Entertainment
Wavell closes at 6.30/7.00 so in the evening we'll head back to Runways End, get showered up and have some tramp beers round the fire pit. I may even get a keg from a local brewery if there's interest. There are barbecue drums on site so we'll set one up for veggie/vegan and one for meat. Woods Butchers in North Camp do incredible tasting barbecue packs for £40 which we may look at getting a bulk purchase rate on if people are keen. It really is good food. If there's any money left over from registration, i'll get some communal supplies in.
Contact
farnboroughbikepolo@gmail.com
Hit me up on LFGSS.
Farnborough Bike Polo Facebook Page for chats and general banter. It could do with some page action actually.
(I'm looking for a team btw.)