Cork Beach 2008 Report

On Friday the 6th June, Ultimate players from UK, Germany, USA, Mexico and all over Ireland descended on The Cottage pub (the Thirsty Scholar) in Cork City, to get the Cork Beach 2008 tournament party under way. People soon took advantage of the great prices for drinks and cocktails. Once everyone had arrived and player fees were paid the draw took place (out of a hat of course) for all to see. Using the online registration people had given themselves a ranking from 1 to 6, and this was then used in the draw to ensure that all teams contained as many similar ranking players as possible, and that each team had the same overall number of ranking points.

This system produced the following controversial teams:

Thundercats:
• Mark Early (Capt)
• David Rickard
• Dónal Murray
• Heather Gill
• David Walsh (Sat only)
• Celine Larkin (Sun only)

Power Rangers:
• Deirdre O Breasail (Capt)
• Antonio Ladron de Guevara
• Richard Buggy
• David McMullin
• Paddy Roche
• Peter Moran
• Grainne Murray

Transformers:
• Lucy Barnes (Capt)
• Mark Loy
• Alan Breathnach
• Dan Farrell
• John Paul Meaney (Sat only)
• Allan Tong (Sat only)
• Tara Muzumdar

Captain Planet:
• Betsy Calkins (Captain Planet)
• Johnny Flahavan
• Alex Widmann
• Richard Hobson
• Yasin Mammeri
• Eoin Savage (Sat only)
• Orla O Connor

TMNT:
• Colm (Bear) Bowden (Capt)
• Luan McKenna
• Kevin Doherty
• Sinéad Flemming
• Pádraig Flynn (Sun only)
• Aidan Daly
• Deirdre Hegarty

Care Bears:
• Aidan Barnes (Capt)
• Adrian Keane
• Emmett Cleary
• Mark Fanning (Sat only)
• Paul Nolan
• Hannah Calkins
• Sarah McLoughlin

Each captain then collected and distributed a player pack for everyone on their respective teams. These consisted of:

• A personalised team jersey
• Toilet roll
• Bin bag
• Tournament brochure (with player photos, rules, tide information, weather forecast, interesting articles, the new European spirit scoring system and the weekend schedule)
• Sweets
• Safe sex pack and postcard

After eventually clearing the pub, some people went to their designated houses while some continued the party at the late Cork city bar An Bróg.
The Friday night landlords were:

• Deirdre O Breasail
• Dónal Murray
• Meabh Boylan
• Christian Dang
• Antonio Ladron de Guevara
• Sinead Flemming

Some people were too excited and couldn’t sleep (DIT), so they got out of bed and headed off to the beach in the middle of the night. Early next morning, the rest of the hungover and sober bunch headed down after them to pitch tent and set up camp. After a bulldozer cleared the beach the day before, the night tide brought in a lot of seaweed again. Gráinne, Sinead and Dee tried to clear some playing surface on the sandy part of beach but once the tied went out, a flat, hard, water laden surface was revealed. This was the best playing surface on offer and was perfect at increasing the risk of sunburn to dangerous levels even in cloudy weather.

Two pitches were setup and eventually lined with help from Hobs and Heather, and the games got under way. Games were up to 11 points with a time cap at 35 minutes. Every team was to play each other once and then the two top teams would battle it out to determine the winner. Placing games were also scheduled but due to pitches being closer to the sea than initially planned, interference from the incoming tide cut short the Saturday games schedule and thus there was no time left on the Sunday.

A portaloo arrived at the remote beach on Saturday afternoon, a first for the Cork Beach tournament (so how did they….you know….. in previous years?). Team food packs were given out during the day by Sinead, and plenty of water was at hand in the campsite and at the side of pitches. At the end of the games on Saturday, one match was eventually cut short due to lack of pitch dimensions, after being played in water for 10 minutes in true Cork Beach style.

Water bottles were refilled, drink was stocked up, more players arrived, and the Saturday night party began. The BBQ equipment came and food was served by the Cork ladies, Sinead and Dee. Some Cork players got the bonfire started, and a stereo was at hand to keep the music flowing. The stars came out and the fire was always either too hot or waaaay too hot; people should learn when to stop throwing on wood. Fire jumping made sure Jim didn’t play at all over the weekend, and Padraig Flynn demonstrated the term sharking for all those who were unsure.

Sunday arrived, and people realised that what they felt the night before wasn’t muscle pain but sunburn, and many players dropped out and headed home early because of it. Also, the tenderising effect of the playing surface on the flesh of the feet combined with sunburn on the soles of feet made running very difficult.

After the initial round robin games, the final was left to Thundercats and TMNT to battle it out. The first few points were tense and the game was very close, but Thundercats eventually pulled away at the end to grind out the result and win the tournament.

Some fantastic prizes were on offer including, champagne, silver watches, gold medals, trophies and of course Bavaria. The tournament results were:

• Winners: Thundercats
• Runners up: TMNT
• Spirit: Transformers
• MVP: Aidan Barnes
• MSP: Luan McKenna
• King of the Beach: Antonio Ladron de Guevara
• Queen of the Beach: Deirdre O Breasail
• Best Sunburn: Eoin Savage
• Body Endangerment: Alan Breathnach
• Sharking: Padraig Flynn

Lifts were given to everyone to help catch buses and trains home and the tidy up followed. That was Cork Beach 2008. The spirit scoring was all very high and I think it shows that everyone played hard, fair, had fun and that ye were all legends. Some teams played iron man for some games and again well done and thanks to everyone who played.
Hopefully 2009 will be even better, and bigger, more ambitious plans are already in place.

Thanks to:
Sinead, Dee, Celine, Grainne, Dave, Antonio, Meabh, Christian, Flahavans, Rockstar, Gerald McCarthy, Jackie Lennox’s, UCC Student Union, Mark Early, The Cottage Pub.

Cork Beach TDs: Rose and Donal