Helloooo Jammers:
The Mountain Alternative Open wound up today under the gigantic Rocky Mountain skies of Colorado. All weekend, the temperatures held in the low 80s under partly sunny skies with mild wind.
Friday afternoon we gathered for a pre-tournament jam in Washington Park in Denver, Colorado. One of the biggest parks in Denver, Washington Park has a long Frisbee history vibe being home to original 1970s freestylers John Bird and Tracy Blood. In the 1980s, Washington Park hosted one of the earliest large city ultimate leagues in the United States, sporting and spawning dozens of club ultimate teams. Now it’s frequently where we gather to freestyle in Colorado.
In the pre-jam, Ryan Young, James Wiseman, Jake Gauthier, Paul Kenny, Larry Imperiale, Bill Wright, Jeff O’Brien, and Jonathan Willett jammed until the beautiful orange sunset lead to awesome margaritas and Mexican food at the legendary Blue Bonnet Restaurant. After eating, we toured public art venues in Denver and filmed for the Spread the Jam Project.
On Saturday, we held the event in Boulder, Colorado, twenty miles northwest of Denver again on a beautiful mountain summer day. Using traditional, experimental and whimsical freestyle formatting, we had a random pairs event. The judging format for the pairs event featured a rank system with bonus point/mandatory move categories. The three bonus categories were, 1) successful, dramatic and stylish “the” catches, 2) Gitis variations (such as throws, spinning catches, reverse gitises, “gitoss,” etc.), and 3) most “casual” moves. The bonus incentives elicited great creativity from the field.
The results of the pairs event was:
1. Paul Kenney/Jonathan Willett
2. Bill Wright/James Wiseman
T3. Jeff O’Brien/ Ryan Young
T3. Chuck Richard/Larry Imperiale
5. Randy Lahm/Jake Gauthier
The second event was a random mobop event with a ranked judging system and different bonus categories. Bonuses were accorded for good use of the field’s cone course in moves and for use of a cone during a trick (“a cone trick”).
With this format, the results of the mobop event was:
1. Jake Gauthier/James Wiseman/Chuck Richard
2. Larry Imperiale/Paul Kenney/Randy Lahm
3. Bill Wright/Jeff O’Brien/Jonathan Willett
4. Ryan Young, Suzanne Strait, Hiram Bale
Excellent non competitive jamming also included Renee Pardo Donaldson and Ian Kitchens.
Saturday night’s party featured obscure Frisbee videos and awesome Oregon and Colorado craft beers and a steak chicken and veggie taco bar until the wee hours of the morning.
Sunday, with the competition over, we mobopped till we could mobop no more, then gathered at Backcountry Pizza and Tap House.
Thanks to everyone for making the Mountain Alternative Open another successful event. Z ya next year!
Jonathan Willett