Monday, July 31, 2006
Britopen/Tour2 - Eastbourne 2006
On Friday Santa, his daughter, Jam and myself set off from Exeter for the combined Britopen/Tour 2 at Eastbourne, and a weekend of frisbee played as only Devon 2 can. We arrived, after a 4 hour drive, at about 9pm to find Chubby and Tiger relaxing with a beer.
After setting up the tent a few of us headed to the nearest pub for food (they'd stopped serving, dinner was 3 packets of crisps) and beer. It was ideal preparation for a weekend of ultimate. Plus, its much easier to sleep in a tent if you're slightly drunk.
When we got back to the tents, a few more people had arrived. Hurrah.
Josh is clearly up for the weekend.
About 60 teams were taking part in the tournament in total (A & B tour, plus Women's Tour) so there were a lot of tents about. This pic doesn't really do the campsite justice.
Devon 2's first game of the weekend was against UCL, the 2nd seeds in our pool. We were expecting a tough game and got one, losing 15-3. Yes we managed to score 3 points, which was 1 more than we scored on the entire first day of Tour 1 - bonus. Our team featured a number of pick-ups from Brighton. The pick-ups were aged between 12 and 15. The 2 15 year olds were voted joint Most Improved Players of the weekend and were excellent on the Sunday, but more about Day 2 later....
(from l to r: Harry, Ryan, Felix, Si, Jam (the captain of our ship), Josh, Santa)
A few pics from that first game:
Our call for the weekend, as always, was Gay Icon Mix and Mingle. I won't explain it too much but here are the pics from the first game:
A canteen was open for most of the weekend (including for a free breakfast on Sunday morning). They had slushy too - mine caused me a serious amount of pain: it was SO cold.
Game 2 of day 1 was against ABH 1 (who would eventually finish 3rd and win promotion to the A tour). They were the top seeds in our pool so we expected to have little chance against them. We came out on D, turned them over and scored the first point. It was the highlight of the Saturday. They were not happy... and scored the next 15 points without reply. We worked hard, but they were just (much) better and more clinical. Pics:
We had bit of a break between the 2nd and 3rd games of the day, (time for a quick trip to Sainsbury's for food and beer). The 3rd game, against the bottom seeds in our pool (they were 27th, we were 22nd) was one we should really have won. We scored 2 early points and then fell apart. It took us ages to realise there wasn't much wind and that I could just pop hammers over the top of their zone D. We lost 15-6. It was very, very annoying. It also meant we had to play another game that day, and risk missing happy hour at the bar (though we didn't bother going in the end anyway!). The game was the 27-18 cross over against Schnell Ja. We lost 15-5 (I think), playing ok.
So we ended day 1 in 27th spot, with our highest possible finishing place now being 25th. The bottom 4 play a round robin on 2nd day. The party Saturday night was a Crazy Hat party (for which I'd for once bothered to come prepared). The drinking started as soon as our last game had finished. Party pics:
The party wasn't that great to be honest. The DJ they had was playing dance music. Plus I was nakered. In bed before midnight.
Sunday started with a game against ABH 2. They had managed to drop to 26th seeds by not realising they had a cross-over game last thing Saturday. Oops. We played ok in patches, but I think we could have beaten them if we'd been more clinical. Result: 15-7 to them. Not too bad a start to day 2 though.
Devon 1 were facing some crucial games on day 2, having finished in the bottom 4 on the saturday. First up they faced Sublime. The loser of that game would be certain of relegation back to the B tour. It was a tough, close game, but having fallen behind early on, Devon 1 pulled it out of the bag to win 14-12.
Their next game was against Bath. It was the 13/14 playoff. The loser again would be relegated to the B tour. Devon 1 lost, to finish 14th. They may however avoid relegation as a team who finished above them may not be able to make Tour 3.
As for Devon 2, our second game of the Sunday was against Flyght Club 2. This was a hard fought, excellent game of ultimate (maybe not in terms of quality, but simply in terms of the amount of effort put in). It certainly seemed to be more than a game between the 25th and 27th seeds. We traded points early on, but managed to take the half 8-6. After a motivational talk from Jam, the captain of our ship, we went out and scored 3 straight points to extend our lead to 11-6. The wind was quite strong up and down the pitch, so to score so many up-wind points was brilliant.
However, we suddenly stopped doing all those things that had worked so well for us, and they picked up their game a bit. They pulled it back to 11-11 and it was getting tense. We scored the next point to get it to 12-11. The hooter had gone, so the 2 point cap went on - it was first to 14. They made it 13-13, but we had the advantage of the wind for the sudden death point, and used it well to covert our O point and win the game. The match had lasted for over 2 hours (games were 90mins + the cap).
It was a great game of ultimate to play, and the best we played all weekend.
Our final match was always going to be an anticlimax after that and indeed it was. It was against MK ultimate. We were all absolutely shattered after the Flyght club game and no one had much left to give. We managed to win 11-6 without playing that well.
Having won 2 games on the Sunday we finished in 26th place (out of 28). A great effort all things considered.
(back, l to r: Rage, Mike, Ryan, Josh, Tickle, Si, Dan, Ed Lee, Santa)
(front l to r: Max, Afro(less)Pete, Felix, Jam (the captain of our ship), Harry).
Most improved players for the weekend were Harry and Ryan who made an excellent contribution on the Sunday.
Most Valuable player was me :-) (as voted by the team!)
After watching the A tour final (Clapham beat Fire 16-14), we packed up and headed home.
And what did Jam, captain of the most successful Devon 2 team ever, think of it all?
Tour 3 is in Cardiff on 12/13 August. Should be excellent (if we can get a team together...!)
After setting up the tent a few of us headed to the nearest pub for food (they'd stopped serving, dinner was 3 packets of crisps) and beer. It was ideal preparation for a weekend of ultimate. Plus, its much easier to sleep in a tent if you're slightly drunk.
When we got back to the tents, a few more people had arrived. Hurrah.
Josh is clearly up for the weekend.
About 60 teams were taking part in the tournament in total (A & B tour, plus Women's Tour) so there were a lot of tents about. This pic doesn't really do the campsite justice.
Devon 2's first game of the weekend was against UCL, the 2nd seeds in our pool. We were expecting a tough game and got one, losing 15-3. Yes we managed to score 3 points, which was 1 more than we scored on the entire first day of Tour 1 - bonus. Our team featured a number of pick-ups from Brighton. The pick-ups were aged between 12 and 15. The 2 15 year olds were voted joint Most Improved Players of the weekend and were excellent on the Sunday, but more about Day 2 later....
(from l to r: Harry, Ryan, Felix, Si, Jam (the captain of our ship), Josh, Santa)
A few pics from that first game:
Our call for the weekend, as always, was Gay Icon Mix and Mingle. I won't explain it too much but here are the pics from the first game:
A canteen was open for most of the weekend (including for a free breakfast on Sunday morning). They had slushy too - mine caused me a serious amount of pain: it was SO cold.
Game 2 of day 1 was against ABH 1 (who would eventually finish 3rd and win promotion to the A tour). They were the top seeds in our pool so we expected to have little chance against them. We came out on D, turned them over and scored the first point. It was the highlight of the Saturday. They were not happy... and scored the next 15 points without reply. We worked hard, but they were just (much) better and more clinical. Pics:
We had bit of a break between the 2nd and 3rd games of the day, (time for a quick trip to Sainsbury's for food and beer). The 3rd game, against the bottom seeds in our pool (they were 27th, we were 22nd) was one we should really have won. We scored 2 early points and then fell apart. It took us ages to realise there wasn't much wind and that I could just pop hammers over the top of their zone D. We lost 15-6. It was very, very annoying. It also meant we had to play another game that day, and risk missing happy hour at the bar (though we didn't bother going in the end anyway!). The game was the 27-18 cross over against Schnell Ja. We lost 15-5 (I think), playing ok.
So we ended day 1 in 27th spot, with our highest possible finishing place now being 25th. The bottom 4 play a round robin on 2nd day. The party Saturday night was a Crazy Hat party (for which I'd for once bothered to come prepared). The drinking started as soon as our last game had finished. Party pics:
The party wasn't that great to be honest. The DJ they had was playing dance music. Plus I was nakered. In bed before midnight.
Sunday started with a game against ABH 2. They had managed to drop to 26th seeds by not realising they had a cross-over game last thing Saturday. Oops. We played ok in patches, but I think we could have beaten them if we'd been more clinical. Result: 15-7 to them. Not too bad a start to day 2 though.
Devon 1 were facing some crucial games on day 2, having finished in the bottom 4 on the saturday. First up they faced Sublime. The loser of that game would be certain of relegation back to the B tour. It was a tough, close game, but having fallen behind early on, Devon 1 pulled it out of the bag to win 14-12.
Their next game was against Bath. It was the 13/14 playoff. The loser again would be relegated to the B tour. Devon 1 lost, to finish 14th. They may however avoid relegation as a team who finished above them may not be able to make Tour 3.
As for Devon 2, our second game of the Sunday was against Flyght Club 2. This was a hard fought, excellent game of ultimate (maybe not in terms of quality, but simply in terms of the amount of effort put in). It certainly seemed to be more than a game between the 25th and 27th seeds. We traded points early on, but managed to take the half 8-6. After a motivational talk from Jam, the captain of our ship, we went out and scored 3 straight points to extend our lead to 11-6. The wind was quite strong up and down the pitch, so to score so many up-wind points was brilliant.
However, we suddenly stopped doing all those things that had worked so well for us, and they picked up their game a bit. They pulled it back to 11-11 and it was getting tense. We scored the next point to get it to 12-11. The hooter had gone, so the 2 point cap went on - it was first to 14. They made it 13-13, but we had the advantage of the wind for the sudden death point, and used it well to covert our O point and win the game. The match had lasted for over 2 hours (games were 90mins + the cap).
It was a great game of ultimate to play, and the best we played all weekend.
Our final match was always going to be an anticlimax after that and indeed it was. It was against MK ultimate. We were all absolutely shattered after the Flyght club game and no one had much left to give. We managed to win 11-6 without playing that well.
Having won 2 games on the Sunday we finished in 26th place (out of 28). A great effort all things considered.
(back, l to r: Rage, Mike, Ryan, Josh, Tickle, Si, Dan, Ed Lee, Santa)
(front l to r: Max, Afro(less)Pete, Felix, Jam (the captain of our ship), Harry).
Most improved players for the weekend were Harry and Ryan who made an excellent contribution on the Sunday.
Most Valuable player was me :-) (as voted by the team!)
After watching the A tour final (Clapham beat Fire 16-14), we packed up and headed home.
And what did Jam, captain of the most successful Devon 2 team ever, think of it all?
Tour 3 is in Cardiff on 12/13 August. Should be excellent (if we can get a team together...!)
# posted by GrecianEd @ 12:21 pm 
