Calgary, Alberta

On to Calgary, home of urban cowboys and the Canadian oil industry. Those two facts have nothing to do with the tournament; that's just your 'local color' lesson.

This year Ho Down attracted a noteworthy geographic mix of players. California, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, and Washington were represented, plus participants from across western Canada. Friday night sounded like it was fun. Me, I was broken down in the middle of the Canadian prairies and missed the festivities; I'll get into that misadventure some other time. A big outdoor BBQ and party was the Saturday plan. It was hampered by the plunging temperature, but most people just added some antifreeze to overcome. Other random notes from Saturday night: there was a dunk tank with frigid water. There were hot tubs full of people. Resistimate was being played continuously for a few hours. The band played until late, starting up it's third or fourth set sometime around 3 AM. As it was World Cup weekend, the man in charge was convinced to open the clubhouse lounge so the stragglers could watch the final match live at 5 AM. Of the dozen left none kept their eyes open the entire game; some didn't last past the opening whistle. When Brazil hammered in the second goal we called it a night; darkness was fading fast as we finally wandered out to crash.

Sunday was a superlative day for ultimate. Although a storm blew over, as it seems to every year, by the time the final rolled around the skies were clear and the temperature was just right. On route to their third final appearance in as many years Eye Candy (Seattle-Edmonton) knocked off Pi (Vancouver-esque) in a quarterfinal and then Chaos (Winnipeg) in a semi. Flex's (Calgary) path to the final led them past Hee Hawlem Globetrotters (trans-nation US) in a quarterfinal before the day's big show. The match to see this year was not the final but local squads Flex and Lawn Party matching up in a semi. It was a battle in the literal sense. The game went about 30 minutes longer than any other game in the round, and there was a huge crowd around the field by the time it was over. I'll spare the gory details but a haggard Flex emerged victorious and went on to face Eye Candy in the final. Flex had achieved their moral victory for the day and didn't mind getting pummeled by the much livelier Can-US combo crew 15-3. The B-Side Tramps pool winner was (?)

Played until getting knocked out of the semi, and got only a couple pics during the final.
—GWAC

Robin of Calgary Flex throwing through an Eye Candy zone.

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Eye Candy throwing.

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Eye Candy throwing.

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