Tourney: London Open 2013 August 23 - 25th

If anyone has any photos of the saddle danglers/medals/trophy please post them/link them. We made them in a bit of a rush and didn't get a chance to get any non iphone photos.

Thanks to Jess/Nik/Ryan//everyone else who made it happen

A Bosch drill + battery + charger... can someone pick this up and hand it back to me at some point? Forgot... Thanks!!

I had a great weekend. Thanks to...

• The organisers: Jess, Nik, Ryan, H-Bomb and the LPC
  
• My team mates, Ben and Kieran. So stoked to make it through with the last touch of our 6 games on the Saturday!
  
• My other team mates: Alaska Jon, Moggi, Dani, Apollo and Piotr. Thanks for a fun bench! No thanks for nominating me as captain.
  
• All the refs, timekeepers, goal refs and players
  
• Dr Chukker for the punk and hip-hop
  
• Lansley Minor and Sean for emergency wheel supplies to Ravens
  
• Ben for putting me up, and Pajac for not snoring
  
• Flat Cap Beers for the beer
  
  
  

Personal highlights for me included:

• The Troika game
  
• The dance-offs
  
• Seeing Reto from Octopussy pretty much every time I rode up to the courts. We never took the same route though
  
• Talking socks with Emmet
  
• Es gibt nur drei Rudi Voller
  
• Polo bairns
  
• Friends, old and new
  
• Hugs and hi-fives
  
• Mat Cosmic and Emmet's parents
  
  
  

Personal lowlights:

• The rain
  
• Badger's 'stache
  
• Asking Ryan (who was reffing our game against Cool Story Sons) how much time was left, and his replying "It doesn't matter". Harsh
  

Absolutely fantastic weekend, stoked to qualify for elim and get games on Sunday, certainly worth the polo miles! Humongous thanks to Nik/Ryan/Jess and everyone else involved in making such a smooth running event and of course my fabulous team mates Shane and Patrick.

Magic way, you earnt the win and showed us some amazing polo, thanks!!

Thanks for an epic weekend, London polo feels awesome right now and I thought the event really stepped up from previous years. Adam and Ryan, you were ace as always, we'll get them next time.

Personal highlights were the huge numbers of volunteers, the synchronised skipping, the sack race and generally acting like a loon all weekend without anyone batting an eyelid. (Lowlights were potentially damaging Rob's frame on the signpost and the losing the van-filling bet with Ryan/Ed.)

Thanks to everyone that made it all possible and big congrats to The Magic Way for being undefeated... champs.

Ace weekend, many things to remember:
playing some excellent close games
traditional rain, then traditional sunburn
narrowly losing to spring break
random congratulations from strangers when winning, and commiserations when losing
lots of dancing
mid atlantic/pacific commentary
some awesome skills on show

I should really check for dents, worth it for the cool photos anyway.
I had a blast too, thanks to everyone who needs thanking, especially Ste and Chris for playing pretty damn well and doing alright, especially against dead locos, that was a fun game.

#mcrsnumber1

Absolute highlight was this dog on the way to Euston this morning though.

Collection of lost items - here to be picked up at the courts
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1sc1oetnxfbyo53/Photo%2026-08-2013%2014%2020%2018.jpg

The dust pan and brush belongs to the LHBPA now, and the wheel in the background belongs to Louis Khornight...

Absolute highlight was this dog on the way to Euston this morning though.

This morning?????????

Big love LPC. It was great to see everyone and the tournament was fantastic.

I have a someone's Swrve jacket, picked it up by accident.

For the 4th time - thanks London for the best polo fun of the year!

"Scuse me mate, do you want to buy some stereo speakers? Top Quality."

Thanks everybody for that awesome weekend.
Thanks Nik and Robbie for being amazing team-mates and totaly pulling off those tie-die shirts.
Will be there next year for sure.

My highlight: getting asked at the airport to put on a sweater cause I was wearing a Fuckuall Edisons shirt,
Didn't have anything else to wear.

Yep, another awesome London Open. Had a great time despite not making it through to Sunday, those draws really fucked us up in the end. So happy New Direction went on to do so well, MCR's no.1 indeed. You guys played really well against DL, great game to watch. Also nice to see so many other Manchester players down there mixing it up, trying some new teams out.

Massive respect to all the organisers! Special nod to Ryan and Nik (even though you did make me get up at 5am on Friday!) You guys made this tourney happen. Also thanks to Mike (push cycles) for helping me build up my new frame. Finished it 30 mins before the Bench started!

Really enjoyed doing the commentary of the last batch of games, would defo be interested to do this again. Personal highlight was seeing Josh getting his 1st place medal! Awesome mate.

After party was pretty special too, I must have left just before Jono got on Rob's bike. Is it dented then?

I have a someone's Swrve jacket, picked it up by accident.

Ooh, this is mine I think. Small burn hole on the right arm and road-rash by the front zipper?

In Wales, so can't confirm. But yeah, black Milwaukee jacket.

Is there anyone who can drive that could pick up the PA from my house and drop it back to the hire place in Angel this eve? Just checking before I fork out for a taxi...

Max? I could Streetcar it, but it'd be the same price as a cab.

Saw this and thought of Badger's 'tache...

Super Mario Brothers Parkour [In Real Life] - YouTube

Nice to come up and hang out for the last part of the day yesterday.
Really enjoyed that final game but my highlight was the Mario theme music coming on over the P.A. when SB were on court.
Classic.

I have got a handful of pics but am having real issues with the new CF card in my camera, grrrrrr.

What a killer fun weekend!

Thanks to everyone who came to London and contributed to the awesomeness factor, especially the Alaskans Will and John who traveled so far and still had the energy to star jump for a good 15 mins (i feel your disqualification was a little unfair)!

Massive props to everyone in the LPC who turned up and stepped up to make this tournament such an easy ride and a proper community love fest! Fuschia, Paul, Apollo, Maddie, Mya, Matt, Io, Oliver, Mark, Paul, Therese and everyone else who rocked the volunteering over the weekend thank you! Special thanks to the out of towners who bossed it and lightened the load! Ben from hebden bridge, Dan from canterbury and everyone else who emptied a bin or saved us from really really bad house music, you are all brilliant!

The court build was amazing and I know Ryan has more to say about this later but thank you to the 30something people who got out of bed at 6am to make some of the coolest courts we ever had in London! Hayden, Tim and Ed you were invaluable, and Bill, Matt and Mya, Matt and Therese, Ollie (greatest ref chair i ever saw), Apollo, Dan, Andy, Martin, Maddie, Brendan, Rupert, Ben beagle, Will, Clement, Robbie, Will and John Anchorage, Krakow, the entire Czech contingent (!) and everyone else who made it possible to build three courts in 6 hours and take them down in a day thank you for your constant enthusisam, occasional random dance moves and unending motivation!

There are a few people whose efforts behind the scenes made everything look and work great, they are:
Ben Blausten for getting you housed, netting the shit outta shit and bossing the take down,
Adrienne who designed everything that looked good and was never upset with midnight enquiries (and also did all my and ryans share of the housework for the last few weeks...)
Big Ed, Hayden, Tim and Apollo, who built the shit outta shit and bossed it all!
EdMoog and Dave who spent a week solid designing and making the best trophies I have ever seen!
Anjelo who didn't just run off when we turned up with 2 people to move 2 courts of wood but rolled up his sleeves and got stuck in, legend!
Zoe for a great sponsor pack and the best stencils we ever had,
and Jono for all his help before during and after.

John 'the Hbomb' podium ninja and format king, Jess and Ryan. Legends.

Congrats to the Magic Way, the Milky Way and Spring Break for some of the best polo I've seen! Well done Johanna and Dodi!

Thanks to my team mates Matthieu and Robbie for helping out so much and being really great fun on and off court! Can't wait till the next time.

Favourite moments:

Being cheated out of winning the sack race by Bill 'the ref' Chidley
Apollo and Jono commentating the star jump competition
Emmet's mum Helen's reaction to them winning the final
Everytime Hbomb played the vengabus

Thanks to Chunk (as always), Brooks, Magic, Flat Cap Beer (!), Paul Components, Cycle hoop, Bagjack, Charge and Le Coq Sportif for all the money and swag that made it all possible!

Can't wait till next year!

Thanks everybody for that awesome weekend.
Thanks Nik and Robbie for being amazing team-mates and totaly pulling off those tie-die shirts.
Will be there next year for sure.

My highlight: getting asked at the airport to put on a sweater cause I was wearing a Fuckuall Edisons shirt,
Didn't have anything else to wear.

Haha, amazing! Come back soon x

Very well said Nik, I don't have that many words, but it was an amazing few days with you all, really enjoyed my first proper tournament playing with Maddie and Paul and all the peripheral stuff like court building and general all hands on deck was undoubtedly worth it. Congrats to everyone that participated in whatever way and special shout out to the Magic Way! Well done!

P.S. Commiserations to Alaska Will for getting disqualified from the star jump competition, but we tried to consult the rulebook, couldn't find it and that led to an executive decision that just couldn't allow the freestyling. Before that, you were a favourite to win, some really good leg extension and "pop" going on. Next time buddy!