Pimp My Mallet

A warm-up for the Euros… the first ever UK Bike Polo Championships will take place in Manchester on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th April 2010. Registration has now closed with 36 teams, one team from Oxford assuming we find enough uninjured people who haven’t left the country.

Updated with flyer from Adam Russ

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It’s official! The 2nd World Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships will be held from Friday 13th to Sunday 15th August 2010 in Berlin.

There’s only space for 64 teams and with more than double that number wanting to play they’ll be some sort of pre-tournament qualification, details still to be decided. The hosts are promising plenty of hospitality for everyone though… so book you tickets now.

This is what our other court looked like last week in the snow. It’s all gone now so bike polo (hopefully) returns tomorrow evening, 20.30 at the Curry’s car park on Botley Road.

Having said that there’s more snow forecast for tomorrow, so if you’re thinking of coming send an email to oxfordbikepolo [at] gmail.com.

Geneva are organising next year’s European Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships sometime in July (probably), and being Swiss they’re ultra organised and are asking all cities planning to enter to pre-register and supply the name of an ambassador.

Fresh from the editing suite, The Cycle Oxford Festival 2009, including Oxford’s first bike polo tournament.

Wednesday polo at the usual time of 20.15 ish, Currys car park, Botley Road. You’ll be following in the footsteps of these 1958 kids… watch and learn.

Register to vote!

There’s going to be an online vote from the 25-27th November to decide the host city for EHBPC 2010. It’s open to all European players, but you’ll need to register at bikepolo.ca and join the Europe group before the 21st November to be eligible.

We played. It rained. We got wet. Heres a few photos taken by a German superstar.

It looks like Europe will be the centre of next year’s bike polo excitement. Over at bikepolo.ca they seem to have decided the world championships will be in Europe. So far only Geneva and Berlin seem to have serious bids in mind, though Geneva now seem to be bidding for the European championships instead with plans for a covered court (but what if it’s sunny?)… which would leave Berlin who hosted this years European Cycle Messenger Championships to put on the 2010 World Championships.

Any if you want to represent Oxford, you’d better get down to our next practice tomorrow (Wednesday) evening, 20.15 Currys car park, Botley Road. Unless it’s still raining.

Plans are afoot for a new UK wide championship next year… maybe one big tournament like the EHBPC or the London BFF but somewhere else to give the Londoners a change of scenery. Curry’s car park, despite it’s charms, isn’t quite up to the standards of a national tournament. Anyone got suggestions for somewhere nice in Oxford?