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A major part of the mission of
BoomerangUSA is to explore new formats and types of boomerang tournaments
while having lots and lots of fun in the meantime. By all accounts, the
first ever BoomerangUSA Championships achieved these goals.
The Championships were held at
Gary Broadbent's Boomerang Field, Shop, Museum, and Lodge in Canton, Ohio, and Gary is hugely responsible for the
success of the tournament. For what seemed like 24 hours a day for at least
four days from March 22-25, Gary's boomerang shop was crowded with people
making boomerangs from the infinite supply of woods, Tri-Fly blanks, G-10,
phenolic, and anything else you can imagine. Everyone went home with at
least several new boomerangs - even the non-crafters, thanks to the
generosity and skills of people like Gary and Fred Malmberg.
One of the innovations of the
Championships was that the boom crafting took place simultaneously with the
tournament, thanks to the boom field literally next door to Gary's house. We ran four events
(Accuracy, Speed, 30M Relay Trial, and Aussie Round), and for each event we
played out a 16-person H2H bracket complete with consolation bracket. This
means that we had potentially 22 H2H rounds per event, although the actual
number was slightly less due to byes, and we finished the four events in
approximately five hours on one circle. Because people were running back and
forth between the shop and the field, the tournament could have gone much
faster, but everyone seemed to enjoy the relaxed, informal format of a dual
workshop/tournament.
We believe that this a promising
format for ALL large boomerang tournaments, especially for the USBA
National Expo. There should be multiple boomerang-related events occurring
simultaneously, so that spectators and competitors alike are ALWAYS
occupied with something, whether it be a
competition, workshop, craft show, lecture, meeting, story by Rusty
Harding... anything boomerang-related. This could be the way to make
boomerang tournaments into spectator-friendly events and lead the sport
into the 21st century.
The plan was for Saturday to be
the H2H Individual Championships, and Sunday would be reserved for the Team
Championships. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate at all. On
Saturday, the field was covered with snow until the afternoon, and we had
some monster winds that made the 35-40F air seem even colder. Because of
the snow, painting the whole field would have been futile, so we used
orange plastic discs to mark the range circles and found a snow-free spot
to paint the bullseye and accuracy circles. On Sunday, it alternately rained
and snowed all day, so all boomerang throwing was restricted to
flight-testing of newly-made rangs from the shop. We did complete most of
the H2H Championships, though, and everyone had a blast despite the
conditions. Just as importantly, everyone was able to learn from the
experts about making and throwing boomerangs, as well as competing in tough
conditions.
Accuracy was run in the standard doubles
format, with each H2H pair throwing simultaneously for five throws. Thomas
Carter was ecstatic about trouncing the great Gregg Snouffer in the first
round and advanced one more round to the final four. Tony Brazelton took
the day’s first event with a first round bye and victories over Matt
Golenor, Thomas Carter, and Wilson Lawrence.
1. Tony Brazelton
2. Wilson Lawrence
3. Thomas Carter (no playoff for
3rd place)
3. Aron McGuire (no playoff for
3rd place)
5. Logan Broadbent (winner of
consolation bracket)
For Speed, each H2H pair found a third
person to time the 1 minute round, and no attempt was made to check range
every throw, though challenges could have been made. With this format,
several rounds of Speed could be run simultaneously. The story of this
event was Bill Hemlick and a self-made boomerang which earned the nickname
“The Clown Rang”. Bill made Speed in 20 mph gusts look like a
day at the windless park, managing a catch or two more than his opponent in
every round until the finals. With a plywood four-winger painted white with
primary color polka dot splotches, he dispatched of Gregg Snouffer, Spike
Frazier, and Billy Brazelton to advance to the championship round. Gary
Broadbent proved too steady in these totally crappy winds and he took the
event with two catches in a minute.
1. Gary Broadbent, Sr.
2. Bill Hemlick
3. Billy Brazelton (no playoff
for 3rd place)
3. Tony Brazelton (no playoff
for 3rd place)
5. Aron McGuire (winner of
consolation bracket)
30M
Relay Trial was
contested as usual. The results? Boring, boring, boring.
It was no surprise to see the speedy quartet of Tony Brazelton, Wilson
Lawrence, Aron McGuire, and Jason Smucker advance to the final four. Jason
breezed through Bill Hemlick, Gregg Snouffer, Tony Brazelton, and Aron
McGuire to win the event.
1. Jason Smucker
2. Aron McGuire
3. Tony Brazelton (no playoff
for 3rd place)
3. Wilson Lawrence (no playoff
for 3rd place)
5. Logan Broadbent (winner of
consolation bracket)
We ran Aussie
Round with
simplified rules: 30M range minimum, no range points, three
throws. As has been the case at many past H2H tournaments, Aussie Round
provided some of the best drama of the day. Almost every match was still
undecided after two throws and there was even a match tied after three
throws that was decided by sudden death. Logan Broadbent picked up right where
he left off last season with another stunning performance in Aussie Round
with victories over Spike Frazier and Matt Golenor before losing to the
eventual champion. Jason Smucker put together enough good throws to beat
evry one of his opponents and won his second event of the day.
1. Jason Smucker
2. Billy Brazelton
3. Tony Brazelton (no playoff
for 3rd place)
3. Logan Broadbent (no playoff
for 3rd place)
5. Mike Dickson (winner of
consolation bracket)
We did not intend to determine
an overall champion, but Jason Smucker and Tony Brazelton recorded the most
wins overall (not counting the 1st round in which there were byes). Jason
was also the only player to win more than one event, and Tony was the only
player to advance to the final four in every event.
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PLAYER
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# WINS AFTER 1ST ROUND
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Jason
Smucker
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6
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Tony
Brazelton
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6
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Billy
Brazelton
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4
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Aron
McGuire
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3
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Gary
Broadbent, Sr.
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3
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Wilson
Lawrence
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3
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Bill
Hemlick
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2
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Logan Broadbent
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1
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Matt
Golenor
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0
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Spike
Frazier
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0
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Tom
Brausch
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0
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Thomas
Carter
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0
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Gregg
Snouffer
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0
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