Bike Polo tourney attracts mallet-wielding bikers
NoC Sports
Though it’s received far less funding and fanfare from the city and its residents than its more effete equine counterpart WEG, after many months of volunteer labor and support the inaugural Midwest Open Bike Polo Tournament is set to take place this weekend (November 13-14) at uptown Lexington’s picturesque Coolavin Park.
Beginning Friday, bikers from throughout the eastern and central United States will begin descending upon the “Bike Polo Capital of the State (and Tennessee)” in full-throttle alcoholic preparations for the two day Midwest Open Tournament set to open the following day. In 48 teams of three, bikers will be competing for the right to claim the prestigious Rudy Cup, named after a strategic ally in the city’s Parks and Rec division.
The anti-WEG: High Demand
The tournament reflects Lexington Bike Polo’s increasing reputation as both strong polo players and kick-ass hosts in possession of a a strong collective tolerance to bourbon. Since the city allowed the players to build their own home court at Coolavin, Lexington Bike Polo has been able to host increasingly larger tournaments. In addition to the city-wide two-on-two and mixed team tournaments of the past year, the players have also hosted two Bluegrass State Games Tournaments and a Spring Invitational. These have attracted more and more players from a wider region. Lexington’s now a hub, a noticeable hub, in a larger bike polo spoke.
This week’s Midwest Open is by far the largest polo gathering to ever occur in this state (and Tennessee). According to Lexington Commissioner of Bike Polo Brian Turner, the forty-eight team, two-day tournament is “at least twice as large as anything we’ve ever organized here in Lexington.” A reflection of the inaugural tournament’s high regard, all forty-eight of its spots, not to mention a lengthy alternate list, were claimed inside of a week of their release date on October 2.
The “Open” format is a reflection of the egalitarian spirit of the sport. As bike polo has increased in popularity, a system of tournaments has (somewhat) naturally arisen at different scales. A Midwest Bike Polo Tournament has existed for several years. There’s a North American tournament and a World Tournament. The play is excellent, and so is the competition.
The First Midwest Open in Lexington is a move to keep access to competition open and friendly. If the Midwest Regional Tournament, an increasingly competitive tourney that has been hosted at several sites throughout the years, evolves into a “qualifying” tournament for larger tournaments like the Worlds (held this year in Berlin, Germany), the Midwest Open strives to be the more relaxed counterpart, open to whomever has the quick-draw at the registration table rather than to whomever qualifies.
“This is more of a relaxed, open-style tournament,” says Turner. “We were hoping to encourage cities and teams to mix it up a bit. Some of the best players and teams in the world are from the Midwest region, and we’re talking about teams who always play together with the same three players, and they play against other top regional teams that do the same.”
The Open format encourages players to switch teams, to team up with teams from competing cities. At least this year, what has occurred is akin to bike polo’s version of an all-star weekend: polo wonderkinds and average bike-punks from over half the country, all friends and drinking and karaoke buddies already, pedaling balls all weekend. Milwaukee’s The Beaverboys, reigning world champions, will be here, split up on separate teams. So will Chicago’s Machine Politics, world runners-up. “A few of the strongest Midwest teams like Milwaukee, Chicago and Madison consistently place on the podium at many of the larger tournaments,” Turner confides. “But with this tournament it looks like they are all mixing up players.”
Why you should show up
With all the emphasis on fuzzy koom-bay-yah city swapping, don’t go thinking that the tournament’s gone totally soft and mushy. There will be plenty to scream at. Pittsburgh and Cleveland are both fielding city teams, so expect gutter level trash-talk. With world-level competition scattered throughout the tourney field, the Open will also be competitive. And with five registered hometown teams in the tournament and other Lexington players scattered throughout on other multi-city teams, the Open will certainly have a strong local “rootability” factor.
To take one example of many, Brad Flowers is coming out of retirement to team with hot kettle Jared Baize and emerging star Nick Redbeard on the Redbearded Daywalkers. Flowers’ story has the potential to develop into a regular Roy Hobbs: an over the hill geezer battles his bike polo demons of the past on a last bid power-push at achieving elite greatness. Will Flowers circle the courts this time after hitting that easy tap-in that he missed in the 2009 BG State Games championship against the Comosexuals? Will his damaged finger and aging, athlete’s foot ravaged, body withstand the rigors of two straight days of bourbon, polo and burgers? In the future, will we see BCTC film students ending their mythic documentaries with slow-motion shots of Flowers, 10 years hence, slapping hot balls across the polo pitch to his giggling young child?
Show up to Coolavin Park this weekend to find out, and take in some fine bike polo action, brought to you by a group of people who enjoy the sport. Show up and show the city that some Lexington sports enthusiasts have embraced a more populist recreational alternative to horse-transportation-as-sport. Show up at Coolavin because a lot of people have been organizing things like food and housing and maintenance committees for many months. Show up and make the city repeal its open container laws to appease this class of ‘alternative transportation sports’ enthusiasts. Show up and don’t worry that no LexTran routes have been diverted to get people to your tournament.
Show up because it’s good local sports, and it’s free.
Show up to support the tournament’s sponsors and spend your hard-earned dollars at their hard-earned business. Drop on by Green Lantern and Al’s to participate in the residual fundraisers (Ben Sollee and Justin Lewis for the Broke Spoke, a community bike shop on North Lime) and latenight pre- and post-game revelry.
“There will be TONS of bikes and thirsty polo players roaming downtown that weekend,” promises Turner. Join the fray.
But make sure to head on over to Coolavin on Saturday and/or Sunday, and by all means cook-out and revel in the spectacle that is bike polo. And if you want to cheer your ass off, then by all means, hoot and holler.
The Midwest Open Bike Polo Tournament takes place Saturday, November 13 and Sunday, November 14 at Coolavin Park, located at the crossroads of Jefferson and Sixth Street. Day One will feature a Swiss Rounds elimination round; Day Two will feature a double-elimination tournament to claim the Rudy Cup. Matches start at 10:00 A.M. each morning and will last throughout the day.
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