Quality or Proximity?

Just had a discussion with a friend about tournament venues.

I made a blog entry sometime ago where I explained that I thought that 'Nationals' should be held somewhere central, in order to be easily accessible to the majority of teams.

The counter argument is that for Nationals the very best facilities should be used, regardless of their proximity.

This year saw Club Open Indoors Nationals and Uni Mixed Indoor Nationals both held in Glasgow, because it's got a really good hall apparently*. The UKUA Nationals (Outdoors) will be held in Southampton, home of EUC 2007, which apparently are also a great facility.

Both of these venues are not central in their location in the slightest, but offer a high standard of facility. There are perfectly good facilities in the Midlands however. Wolverhampton and Coventry have both got good indoor facilities. Birmingham is one of my favourite outdoor venues.

Therefore, should we go for high quality venues at the expense of proximity, or should proximity be the main driver for 'Nationals'?

*I've not been there, just feedback I've heard.

This post was written whilst mostly listening to Marina and the Diamonds.

CMIN 2010

Club Mixed Indoor Nationals was this weekend, held in Coventry.

As predicted Brixton were pushed out of the top four, but not by Kent, Brown or Cowboys, it was Flump and Babushka (DUF) who outperformed their seedings.

Congrats to Discmen, who beat Bears Cavalry in a great final. Also congrats to Bears Cavalry who won Spirit of the Game, which goes to show you can play highly competitive ultimate in a spirited fashion.

Full Results (SOTG Scores)...

1. Discmen Ultrastars (12.5)
2. Bear Cavalry (15) - SOTG winners
3. Flump (13.9)
4. The Babushka Lady's Babies (14.9)
5. Fire and Ice (13.4)
6. The Brown (12.1)
7. Mythago (13.8)
8. Steal (14)
9. Cowboys (13.6)
10. Brixton Angels (14.4)
11. Black Magic (8.6)
12. Kent (14)
13. BearsReloaded (13.7)
14. Lemmings (13.5)
15. Trigger Happy (12.3)
16. Cutty Sharks (13.5)
17. Fugazees (14.1)
18. Bear Minimum (14.1)
19. Discmen Daredevils (11.6)
20. Strange Blue (12.7)

Club Mixed Indoor Nationals

This weekend sees CMIN held in Coventry.

According to seedings, the favourites are Discmen, Fire & Ice, Bear Cavalry and Brixton Angels. I wouldn't be surprised to see Kent, Brown or Cowboys force themselves into the top four, possibly at the expense of Brixton.

I appreciate that seedings are tricky for one off tournaments, particularly mixed indoor ones. Depending on who turns up for their respective teams, expect Strange Blue, Mythago and Leamington Lemmings to shoot up the seedings.

See y'all there!

This post was mostly written whilst listening to Elliott Smith

Barr Crawl...

Well, t'other weekend was Great Barr Crawl in Birmingham.

As always, was a fun tournament, and as always my predictions were wrong.

Dog Eat Disc, which seemed to be made up largely of Team Shark players won the tournament, from their seeding of 29th (or similar!). They beat Bears Cavalry in a hotly contested final. Less hotly contested was the 3 Vs 4, seeing local side Leamington Lemmings beat Leroy the Mexican Turbo Snail. Spirit was won jointly by Hot Snatch and Ovathrow (a team of ARUP engineers).

Looks like uBu2 won the plate (in 13th position), with other notable performances from Arctic 1* (finishing 7th) and Lady Lemmings (managing to compete well in an otherwise 'Open' tournament).

Here's looking forward to Club Mixed Indoor Nationals next weekend in Coventry.

Lemmings 1, 2 & Lady Lemmings @ GBC

* Why do people in the Ultimate world find it so hard to spell Arctic?

This post was mostly written whilst listening to Mumford & Sons.