Winter Whack is Christchurch’s annual polo tournament.  Held each year for the past three at the beginning of winter, this has to be one of the coldest tournaments in the southern hemisphere. Despite this, the tournament just keeps growing in popularity and size each year.

Included in our registration was accommodation in one of Christchurch’s finest Scout Halls.  I think there were around 30 of us that stayed here. The mattresses were comfortable, the showers amazing (once I worked out how to turn it in) and the breakfast supplies greatly appreciated. Communal living at it’s best!

Friday night festivities got under way around 8pm with drinks, pizza and knife fights at the courts.  It was really good to catch up with old friends and meet so many new people.  It was my first time playing knife fights and I really sucked at it!  I think I knocked my own goal down 3 times.  Andy Balcar was much better than me and won a new wheel set for his efforts!

Saturday morning it was time to be up bright and early and get started on the main event.  I was really happy to see my team was in the same group as Christchurch’s Frosty Boys and Auckland’s Half Wank, Full Bladder and the games against them were definitely my favourites.

The rounds rolled through really nicely.  It didn’t feel rushed or stressful, just fun and I enjoyed every game that I played.  Around me everyone else looked like they were having an amazing time to.

Before long we were at the elimination rounds.  The 18 teams were split into 2 separate single elimination finals – the Whackers bracket and the Hackers bracket, based on their round robin results.

The Hackers bracket was taken out the Samurai Polo Cats, a mixed team of Melbourne and Auckland players.  Their final against 2 Girls 1 Guy was highly entertaining to watch.

The Whackers bracket was taken out by European Melbourne Anchor who defeated the valiant Christchurch team of Flat City Rollers (who had already knocked both Sydney teams).  It is really good to see the standard of New Zealand polo getting better and better each year.

Such a great day of polo.  I’ve always found bike polo tournaments in New Zealand to be very different from the ones we have in Australia, and different in a good way.

For a start, there are no referees, which means there is already one less person to yell at.

People seem more relaxed and less concerned about winning at any cost.  It definitely rubs off on you.

Even my team seemed to play with a lower aggression level than usual.  Well maybe…

Many thanks to Craig and everyone else in Christchurch for putting on such an amazing tournament.  The warmth of our hosts more than made up for the freezing temperatures.  Hope to see everyone back there next year.

All photos courtesy of Richard Brown of Timaru.  Many thanks to Richard for letting us use them.

By Virginia Castellan

Full profiles will be posted in the coming weeks.

**For the record, I want everyone to know that Leo was the last person to touch that GOALHOLE sign.  Finn had his picture taken with a completely different, much larger sign.

By Virginia Castellan

Owner:  JT

City:  Christchurch, New Zealand

Frame/Fork:  Kona Lana’i

Bars/Stem:  Handle!

Seat/Post: Yes!

Pedals:  Wellgo

Cranks/BB/Chain ring: Sakae, ?, 38T

Sprocket: 22T

Brakes:  Yes!

Wheels: Surly hub on Chukker rims

Why did you choose this bike?
A friend offered it to me second hand.  It’s known as the Kona Loner (a loan bike for Christchurch polo club originally).  I bought it and did it up.  It’s got a solid chain now and 2 sweet wheels that I scored in a knife fight competition.

How long have you played on this bike for?  Have you played on anything else?
1.5 years-ish. Played my first ever polo game on my fixie I used for courier work and went crash into the fence and bent my forks, motivating me to get this bike.

What are the best things about your bike?
Wheels!  They are solid 48 spokes.  And I just invested in a dual brake lever. I like collecting spoke cards in the back wheel too.

What are the worst things about your bike? What would you change?
I would like to change the pedals to SPDs.  A new crankset would be nice as the current one is a bit bent.

If you missed checking out Daniel and Jacks bits, you can get a look at them here

By Virginia Castellan

Plans for the Australasian Hardcourt Bike Polo Championship 2013 have stalled as both Christchurch and the Gold Coast removed their expressions of interest to host the tournament.

Representatives from both cities have written to the Australasian Hardcourt Bike Polo Association to officially withdraw their expressions of interest and declined to place an official bid to host the tournament for 2013.

Christchurch representatives withdrew due to most players having constraints on their time in the next year, including completing of studies and the rebuilding houses and businesses after last years devastating earthquake.

“[Christchurch] are critically aware of the amount of work required to organise this event successfully and do not feel that 2013 is going to be a suitable year for our club to commit to this workload.  Many of our players are completing studies in this timeframe and some will be re-building homes and businesses within the next 12-18 months, following the enormous amount of demolition going on here post earthquake.”

Christchurch's home courts

The Gold Coast‘s statement has pointed to ongoing set backs, including the loss of their home courts at Miami High, as the reason for withdrawing their bid.

“[The GC] are still developing the sport on the coast and are working towards hosting a few social tournaments. We’ve had a lot of set backs since returning from Nat’s this year. For a tournament on this scale alot of factors have to line up finical [sic], political, amenities etc just to name a few.”

The GC's home courts at Miami High which have now been revoked.

These sudden withdrawals leaves a void as no other bids have been made. The deadline for expressions of interest has passed, only the Gold Coast and Christchurch indicated they would bid. The Australasian Hardcourt Bike Polo Association (Jedi Council), are now determining the timeframe for new expressions of interest and bids.

To express interest in hosting the AHBPC 2013 contact your local representative and refer to the bidding process outline on bikepolo.com.au

For more info on the AHBPA and who your local representative is see our previous article on the Jedi Council .

by Oliver Wykeham

How long has polo been played in Christchurch?
Hardcourt since 5th September 2009 (excact same date as WHBPC 09 in Philly). Dirty ole’ Grass polo about a year prior to that, a few of our regular players were involved in the grass polo scene.

How many regular players do you have?
About 20 who would show up at least twice a month and about 12 who are weekly regulars.

How often do you play?
We’ve just moved from playing once a week (alternating between Friday Nights and Sunday Afternoons) to every Friday Night and every second Sunday.  It’s complex but seems to work

Tell us about your courts
Our playing court is 18x36m, we partition it off of a larger court area with 400mm high ply boards and our patented industrial velcro bracket system.  Our surface is smooth asphalt with some minor hairline cracks following the F’n earthquakes.

Do you have a league?
We tried and failed, we’re trying again pre-Winter Whack.

Would you consider having one?
If you’re buying….

What have you found works the best to get new players?
Our first Winter Whack boosted our numbers considerably, since then the ‘word of mouth’ method has been the most effective, we’re about to do a spoke card drop.

Tell us something cool about your city
Seattle (the birthplace of Hardcourt) is our Sister City.

Answers by Craig Johnston