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Canada
North Side Polo Invitational 2009
Nov 22nd
North Side Polo Invitational
Bike Polo Tournament
July 4th, 2009 weekend
Ottawa, Canada
The 2009 NSPI is set for the weekend of the fourth of July. I share the common opinion that Ottawa / Mallets Of Mayhem are a polo club that host events with too numerous of qualities to mention them all here. The point is this, if you want to play with the best of the best (they are the 2008 N. American Bike Polo Champions) the North Side is your best chance. And if you are hosting a polo event of your own, stay a couple weekends away from this one.
Polo Tournament Announcement from Calgary
Nov 21st
Ramsay Bowl II
Bike Polo Tournament
July 10th – 12th, 2009
Calgary, Canada
They are already boasting about a $1500.00 cash prize for first place.
For more info Calgarybikepolo.com
The 2009 Ramsay Bowl II will be July 10 – 12 2009. This is the last weekend of the Calgary Stampede so there will be lots going on here, and lots of parties and free breakfasts to be had. Not to mention our court is on the top of the hill behind the Stampede grounds so we’ll have a big fireworks show and music going on all weekend compliments of the Stampede. I’ll send a flier soon.
Thanks,Justin
First thing I thought after reading Justin’s email was what is the Calgary Stampede? Then I thought about how many tournaments 2009 is going to have.
From my count there are 30 bike polo tournaments that have been scheduled in 2008. And 2009 is already looking like as many, or more will take place around the world. On this site I have a Tournaments page listing all the polo events that I am aware of (since the beginning of this site). This week I have added at least three new dates, and I’m sure that before the end of the year there will be more tournaments staking a claim to weekends in 2009. So, if there is a bike polo tournament you are planing to host, please send me an email and I’ll add it to the list. I also like to list the details afterwards. Results, number of teams, sponsors, that sort of stuff. Looking back on this years tournaments brings back some good memories.
Victoria’s Secret Santa X-mas Tourney
Nov 20th
Victoria’s Secret Santa Xmas Tourney
2nd Annual Bike Polo Tournament
November 29th, 2008
Victoria, BC
Details from Nick Via League of bike polo forum
Victoria’s second annual winter tournament once again coincides with the annual Recyclistas Birthday Bash
The Polo Tournament will be a one day event, on the Saturday afternoon from 11-6, at a new location – the Vic High tennis courts located on Fernwood St, south of square at Gladstone (address: 1260 Grant Street, Victoria).
Please email victoriabikepolo@gmail.com to register your team, arrange billeting, or if you would like help organizing a team. Inter-city and co-ed teams are encouraged.
Entry fee this year is a gift for the Secret Santa gift exchange. (Gifts must be under 5$, and found, made or recycled gifts are encouraged – please be creative). Players are also encouraged to bring a non-perishable for the Food Bank.
As always, we will have baked goods for sale by donation, and players sporting themed-costumes will be rewarded.
Following the tournament, there will be a bike race leaving from the Polo courts, ending at a birthday celebration for Recyclistas with live music and performances (including Victoria’s Velo Vixens)
Hope to see you soon with Victoria’s finest.
3rd East Van Crown
Nov 20th
The East Van Crown
3rd Annual Bike Polo Tournament
September 18th – 20th, 2009
Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Save the date.
(same dates as CMWC Tokyo)
The Ottawa Citizen on Bike Polo
Nov 1st
Whatever turns your crank
It’s not difficult to spot a bike polo player. Just look for the red knees.
By The Ottawa Citizen September 2, 2007
It’s not difficult to spot a bike polo player. Just look for the red knees.
The North Side Bike Polo Invite, part of the 4th annual Capital Punishment bicycle-courier festival, wraps up today at Ev Tremblay Park on Beech Street. It’s being hosted by The Mallets of Mahem, the 30-member Ottawa bike polo club.
The best way to describe the sport?
“It’s like hockey on bikes,” said Doug Dalrymple, who came up from New York with 16 other players to compete in the tournament.
Teams of three compete on a basketball court, navigating their bikes with one hand, swinging home-made mallets at a small orange ball with the other. Two pairs of pylons, one at each end of the court, serve as goals. The first team to score five wins.
There are no official rules, though etiquette is appreciated. If your foot touches the ground, referred to as dabbing, you should tap your mallet on the pylon attached to the chain-link fence before returning to play. Body checking is allowed, but deliberately crashing into an opponent is frowned upon. Throwing your mallet at a player is also a no-no.
Brian Whitmore, an organizer of the event, has been playing bike polo for about three years. To be good at it, he says, you must be agile on a bike and quick with a stick. And if you’re afraid of injury, you might want to try water polo instead.
“I’ve broken my right hand three times,” said Mr. Whitmore.
The competitors don’t wear helmets or knee pads, or any other type of safety equipment. A female member of The Mallets of Mahem dislocated her shoulder earlier this year. Someone else pulled an arm muscle. But for the most part, the players say, you just get a few scrapes and bruises.
Teams from the U.S. and Canada are competing in Ottawa this weekend. The prizes aren’t large, mainly bicycle equipment, but many of the best North American players are here. Hot spots for the sport include New York, Philadelphia, Seattle and Vancouver.
Most competitors in the tournament are bicycle messengers, such as Martha Esme, from Ottawa. She started playing last year.
“It looked novel,” she said.
A.K. Walls, who plays with Ms. Esme on the Wheelzebub team, says having superior bike-handling skills is the key to being good at the game. That’s why couriers make up the bulk of the players.
“It’s second nature for us to be on a bike,” he said.
Bike Polo Tournament in Toronto
Oct 29th
Halloween Smackdown
Bike Polo Tournament
October 31st – November 2nd, 2008
Toronto, Canada
For more info see contact on flier
N. American hardcourt bike polo map
Oct 7th
This may not be 100% complete but it does give a reasonable idea of where bike polo is popular in North America.
Added four more, Boise, Bozeman, Baltimore, & Blacksburg,VA
The Montreal Gazette ran a bike polo story this week.
Sep 30th
The Montreal Gazette ran a bike polo story this week.
Bike polo is very likely, the best game you have never played.
At 9:00pm on Tuesday evenings in Point St. Charles you can join in on the the highly entertaining and exceptionally enjoyable game of bicycle polo. Hidden in Parc Leber on Rue Fortune just east of Wellington is a nearly perfect regulation hockey rink which serves admirably in ice-free weather as a bike polo venue complete with sideboards, lights and bleachers.
To the uninitiated, mallet swinging and manic one-handed pedaling might seem a difficult (emphasis on cult), frustrating and potentially painful pseudo-athletic diversion into sado-masochism. However, I submit to you that any able bodied person with a bicycle and a shred of curiosity will rediscover the simple joy of playing which was taught out of us from the time we learned to keep score.
In bike polo, everyone wins.
Beyond the compulsory bicycle there is little in the way of special equipment necessary to get in the game. A polo mallet can be assembled for next to nothing or borrowed from someone who is giggling so uncontrollably that they need to sit out for a few minutes. A ball, goal markers, as few as three other people and you’ve got a polo match.I have had the good fortune to play with different groups in different cities and each has its individual local flavor. Whether on concrete, grass, dirt or ice using street hockey balls, lighted whiffle balls or mini soccer balls riding fixed gear bikes, tall bikes, BMX bikes, tandems, mountain bikes or mini bikes the glee-factor is always off the charts. While cycle polo has long existed and there are official international rules, the regional differences and house rules are what make life interesting.
In Montreal’s Tuesday night games (also Sunday afternoons at Chambord/Marie Anne, @5pm), players tend to use fixed gear bikes, street hockey balls and small cones about one bike length apart as goal markers. Teams are chosen at random and are changed up to provide balanced play. Players can use either hand to hold a mallet and goals count only when scored with the circular mallet end, not with the tubular mallet length.
Emphasis is on skill, finesse and encouragement rather than aggression and violence which makes for an approachable game accepting of men and women experienced or not. The penalty for touching the ground with your foot is to ride out and tag a designated location before re-entering the field. As with most things in Montreal, helmets, wheel guards, eye protection and keeping score are optional.
If any other groups are out there playing in different parts of town, a tournament is in order.
Ottawa sits on top of N. American bike polo…That’s What She Said!
Sep 2nd
Ottawa Wins NACCC Bike Polo Tournament!!!!
OWN YOU, originally uploaded by Doug D.
Brian, Alexis, and Robbie (That’s What She Said) take the prestigious title of North American Bike Polo Champions at the 2008 Chicago NACCC. Kings of the sport, I respect Ottawa players the most (ever since seeing them win ESPI I in 2005) and they deserve the win, but did not go undefeated. Phillys Mark, Montana, and Alex (Hoagie Rollers) did fight out of the losers bracket to meet That’s What She Said in the final. And that game went up to 4 – 0 Philly!! Then Ottawa brought it back to 4 – 4 !!!! after a few more minutes of top notch play Philly won!!! forcing a Final, Final. This next game started and during most of it I was helping others chase two thieves who stole a bike and bag and ran off. I did get back in time to see Brian score a beautiful game winning goal. Way to go man and congratulations!
I want to thank all of Chicago Bike Polo, everyone who had a hand in this event did a super job. There is no doubt that this was the largest bike polo event to date! And it was excellent!
For me this whole weekend was great, so many friends and new faces. I got to relax in the shade, as Johnny bandaged my head, (thanks Johnny, thanks Lee). Everyone was great to let me take their photo. I think there were only 5 people I missed, out of 34 + teams (please give me some time to work on them, I will post them all). Thanks to Lucky for a personalized custom Mallet (I still need your address). Thanks to the Hunters for giving me a sample of the “Mid-West Red”. Thanks to Wil Mills of La Carrera Cycles for flowing me some clothing. I’m not sure of his name but the mechanic who set up a work shop at the courts, that was very generous thing to have all those spare tubes available for free and lending tools for two days. Just awesome, Thank You.
So Many Sponsors and tons of prizes. If you guys want to take the time to send a thank you to the people who gave products as prizes I think that would be a really good thing! Thanking the small companys that give to the bike polo events can go a long way. I want to list a few of the sponsors.
Waterford Precision Cycles
Milwaukee Bicycle Co.
Seagull Bags
Steelwool
TrackstarNYC
Kozie Prery
DQM
Sonadei
Crumpler Bags
And Many Others….
Results:
2008 North American Bike Polo Champions: “That’s What She Said” (Brian, Alexis, Robbie) Ottawa
2nd Place: “Hoagie Rollers” (Montana, Mark, Alex) Philly
3rd Place: “East Vanier” (Jen, Martin, Pieter) Ottawa/East Van
MVP: (highest goals per game avg.) Drew of Portland
35 teams with players from Ottawa, East Van, Chicago, Milwaukee, Philly, St. Louis, Madison, Seattle, Richmond, Lexington, New York City, Columbia, Minneapolis, DC, Baltimore, Boston, Orlando, Dayton, Portland, and Cleveland. 20 cities!!
2 days, 2 courts. 10 min games in round robin and bracket games up to the semi-finals. 15 min semi. un-timed Final. All games first to 5 points.
NSPI 2008 (photo recap part 2)
Aug 12th
The 2008 North Side Polo Invite Bike Polo Tournament in Ottawa, Canada.
All Photos © Doug D 2008
