Here's a quick look at the teams in colour:
The Hosting Teams from Townsville
The Towns-Villains
The Quinns Strike Back
The Travelling teams
Firestorm (A + B) (Brisbane)
Axis of Awesome (Cairns Ultimate Disc)
Slamtown Flatball Club (Gold Coast)
We take our hats off to those who quickly moved on from it being held elsewhere than in Brisbane this year and made the trip up to return the favour to those of us up here and help grow the sport of Ultimate! The benefits of having having held Regionals in Townsville I think are enormous for the sport and the players up here. According to the Brisbane Blog this was the largest attended Regionals so far (84 players officially including 1 girl Alecha from Cairns. Unofficially 85 and 2 girls. Due to a sneak game played by Deanna from Townsville in the game against Cairns to give Alecha a break from D'ing up guys all day!), which probably would have happened had it been in Brisbane (and some more players moved their butts to take part), but what that really tells you is that there's a whole swag of people up here who want it just as bad! It doesn't tell you that almost entirely 2.5 - 3 teams of worth players of Townsville and Cairns stock took part in their very first Ultimate competition. Without Regionals here this wouldn't have happened, and these guys may never have had the chance to get a taste of the sport at a tournament nor have sought it out.
From a Townsville club perspective what this does for us is gives almost everyone in our club a taste for tournament level Ultimate which I think will only commit them further to the sport! So thank you again and hopefully this leads to you seeing some stronger teams from Townsville down your way and one from Cairns in not so long as well!
The Tournament began with the arrival of most players mid-Saturday morning. Most of them took the couple of hours free to walk down to Palmer St. and the Strand to grab a coffee and a bite to eat and then wandered back to the fields to relax and, if early enough, watch the end of the Tsv. vs. Tsv. game.
Games began with match-ups being against the nearest seeded team with the tightest game being the Axis of Awesome (Cairns) vs. The Quinns Strike Back (Townsville B) game with the Townsville gang going down by 1 point 12 - 11 to the mighty Axis of Awesome.
Not long after the first games most people realised that it was quite a warm day! Matt Anscomb stopped by to spectate which was quite a treat as one of the original founders and ex El Presidente's of Townsville Ultimate. He brought with him his favourite frisbee line "You gotta lay for those!" done in the pseudo accent of an American or something. Loved hearing it again as embarrassed as it makes me to know him!
Luckily, teams only had 3 games to play in the sun before a break for dinner, the AGM, and a meander across the road to the nighttime venue of the Sports Reserve. The damage to the Queens Park lights during the Cyclone turned out to be a blessing in disguise because 4 teams got to play on some extremely professional looking fields with a bit of grandstand action happening alongside the Firestorm vs. Slamtown match-up which added a second showcase game (including the final) to the tournament for players to watch.
From what I hear these Sports Reserve fields were great to play on, and from asking the layout master Stu, they also had enough give in them for the odd layout. A group of boarding school kids from the nearby Grammar School somehow had turned up, and Rob Trachter quickly got them involved and cheering loudly for Firestorm. By day 2 they'd come back for the finals and left with a signed Townsville disc from all their favourite Firestorm players (and this guy! after begging to sign it as well) which was great to see. Cairns and Firestorm Ignition battled it out silently on the neighbouring field but unfortunately for them most of the crowd were comfortable on the seats on their far side. End day 1 of tournament.
For most day one was a long day requiring recovery from the stress of the heat and humidity. Though playable, add to that a day of tournament games and most were ready to hit the hay. The obligatory "party" or drinking session in town was won most likely by TomSteve though, arguably and quite lamely if true, by Mansauce. Mansauce's only argument is that technically TomSteve had arrived too late and had missed the official party. Other than that pissweak claim I'm pretty sure he got trounced because he left town before TomSteve had even finished his warm-up predrinks. I personally brought out "the handler" to an adoring crowd and did a "body shot" (what a flaming woman-lie) off the forearm!?!? of a promo girl before the free lift home claimed me and stripped hopes of the title clean out of my grasp.
Day 2 began with brekkie in the shade and the final rounds needing to be played out. The final round for Slamtown and Firestorm Ignition was converted, to avoid two identical match ups in the dessicating heat, to their semi-final playoff. Slamtown were not the disciplined machine of their game against Firestorm A and were looking rather seedy from whatever happened at the Hotel Allen the night before.
The Villains realised their place in the pecking order when sizing up Firestorm and decided to save their strength too for their semi-final against the loser of that game, Slamtown, to try to garner the final spot on offer for Nationals. Axis of Awesome and The Quinns Strike Back squared off for their big bout, a meaningful one to both teams as they were fairly evenly matched with Cairns taking it.
In the 3rd/4th playoff The Villains this year just lacked a few key bits of strength as well as some experience with many freshly new to the ranks. Slamtown seediness aside they were now just buggered from the heat but they took the game in their stride following against the fresh Townsville team and just worked hard out there to push themselves through for the win. With Donnie mentioning in the huddle that this was the hottest game he'd played in his many years of playing including that hot regionals in Brisbane in 2007. The high humidity pretty unique to up here but still something all the Queensland teams dealt with well!
It was the two Firestorm teams who were warmed up and ready to go as the Butcher on Bundock's sausages cooked away (they were good) and fruit salad was slurped down. With the division of ability between the two teams having been decided already back in Brisbane it was a concern that we wouldn't get our money's worth. That was quickly proven wrong with a very competitive display from both teams and there was no telling them apart on their desire to win. Firestorm A got the win in the end to take out the tournament but both teams were happily through to a home Australian Nationals which is a great result! Thanks to all the teams and helpers who made the tournament possible - you know who you are!!!
Here are the results:
Regionals Results
Saturday - Day 1
Morning Game: Towns Villains (TSV) d. The Quinns Strike Back 13 - 3
Round 1: 12:40 - 1:10pm
1. Firestorm A d. Firestorm B 13 - 4
2. Slamtown d. Towns Villains 13 - 4
3. Cairns Axis of Awesome d. The Quinns Strike Back 12 - 11
Round 2: 2:30 - 3:40pm
1. Firestorm A d. Towns Villains 13 - 2
2. Slamtown d. Cairns Axis of Awesome 13 - 1
3. Firestorn B d. The Quinns Strike Back 13 - 1
Round 3: 4:20 - 5:30pm
1. Slamtown d. The Quinns Strike Back 13 - 3
2. Firestorm A d. Cairns Axis of Awesome 13 - 1
3. Firestorm B d. Towns Villains 13 - 7
Round 4 (Night Games at Sports Reserve): 6:50 - 8:00
1. Firestorm A d. Slamtown 13 - 5
2. Firestorm B d. Cairns Axis of Awesome 13 - 3
Sunday - Day 2
Round 5:
1. Towns Villains d. Cairns Axis of Awesome 13 - 6
2. Firestorm B d. Slamtown 11 - 7
3. Firestorm A d. The Quinns Strike Back 13 - 0
5th vs 6th
5th: Cairns Axis of Awesome d.
6th: The Quinns Strike Back
Score: 11 - 6
Semi-Finals
3rd: Slamtown d.
4th: The Villains
Score: 13 - 5
Grand Final
1st: Firestorm
2nd: Firestorm Ignition
Score: 13 - 6
MVPs (3-way tie): Donny Moss (Slamtown), Mike Larson (Towns Villains), Zane Quinn (The Quinns Strike Back)
Congratulations to Firestorm, it's great to see the hard training pay off and you've come out with a convincing win. Also good luck to all three teams who qualified for Nationals - Firestorm, Ignition and Slamtown. Congrats to Cairns on their first tournament, what a great effort and it looks like there's plenty of potential up there. Of course well done to both Townsville teams on representing the 'Ville, we'll only see improvements now!
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