Editing Vipers (New Zealand Paintball Team)

```mediawiki
'''Vipers''' was a New Zealand tournament [[paintball]] organisation associated with New Plymouth. Contemporary records variously rendered the name as '''Vipers''' and '''Viper'''. The organisation fielded two separately ranked squads, '''Vipers 1''' and '''Vipers 2''', during 2000.[1][2][3]

The North Island organisation is distinct from the later Ashburton team [[Viper (New Zealand Paintball Team)|Viper]] documented in 2011.

== History ==

=== 1999 ===

Vipers competed at the 1999 Hawke's Bay Triples as a New Plymouth team. The three-player competition used a round-robin preliminary stage followed by a semi-final and a two-game final. Vipers was among the eight reported entries, although the surviving report does not provide its exact placing.[1]

The 1999 [[Valhalla National Rankings]] placed Vipers twelfth with a calculated ranking score of 56.[2] This was a national ranking value rather than the team's score at a single tournament.

=== 2000 ===

A team recorded under the singular spelling '''Viper''' competed at the South Pacific Championships, held at Thunderball Adventure Games in Wellington on 22–23 April 2000. The tournament attracted ten teams. Viper did not advance to the four-team final stage.[3]

Vipers subsequently reached the Second Division final at the Mayhem Queen's Birthday tournament, held at Actions Paintball Sports Arena in Swanson on 4 June. The surviving report lists Vipers among the six divisional finalists but does not provide the team's final placing or score.[4]

At the 2000 Wellington Cup, Vipers reached the five-player final alongside Phoenix, Tag n' Release and Full Boar. Phoenix won and Tag n' Release finished second, but the surviving accounts do not establish the finishing order of Vipers and Full Boar.[3][5]

The 2000 Valhalla National Rankings recorded two separate Vipers squads. Vipers 1 was tied for ninth with a ranking score of 69.5, while Vipers 2 was ranked twenty-sixth with a score of 45.[2] These entries document numbered squads within the organisation rather than separate team identities.

== Tournament record ==

{| class="wikitable"
! Year
! Tournament or ranking
! Published entry
! Recorded result
|-
| 1999
| [[Hawke's Bay Triples]]
| Vipers
| Participated; exact placing not reported
|-
| 1999
| [[Valhalla National Rankings]]
| Vipers
| 12th; ranking score 56
|-
| 2000
| [[2000 South Pacific Championships]]
| Viper
| Participated; did not reach the final stage
|-
| 2000
| Mayhem Queen's Birthday tournament
| Vipers
| Reached the Second Division final; exact placing not reported
|-
| 2000
| [[2000 Wellington Cup]]
| Vipers
| Reached the four-team final; exact placing not established
|-
| 2000
| [[Valhalla National Rankings]]
| Vipers 1
| Tied 9th; ranking score 69.5
|-
| 2000
| [[Valhalla National Rankings]]
| Vipers 2
| 26th; ranking score 45
|}

== See also ==

* [[Viper (New Zealand Paintball Team)]]
* [[Hawke's Bay Triples]]
* [[Wellington Cup]]
* [[Valhalla National Rankings]]
* [[Paintball in New Zealand]]

== References ==

# [https://web.archive.org/web/20020606140335/http://www.paintball.co.nz/hbtrip99.htm Rick Levick, ''1999 Hawkes Bay Triples''], Paintball.co.nz, archived 6 June 2002.
# [https://www.oocities.org/mercstar_nz/VALHALLA/1999Hall.htm ''1999 Valhalla National Rankings'']; [https://www.oocities.org/mercstar_nz/VALHALLA/2000Hall.htm ''2000 Valhalla National Rankings''], Mercenaries Star.
# [https://web.archive.org/web/20011020080141fw_/http://www.blacksun.co.nz/phoenix/news.htm Wellington Phoenix news archive], entries covering the 2000 South Pacific Championships and Wellington Cup.
# [https://web.archive.org/web/20021019221500/http://www.paintball.co.nz/queen2000.htm Rob Maddox, ''The Mayhem 2000 Queens Birthday Tournament''], Paintball.co.nz, archived 19 October 2002.
# [https://www.oocities.org/mercstar_nz/Links/TagNRelease.htm Russell Clement, ''Tag n' Release Team Profile''], Mercenaries Star, April 2001.

[[Category:New Zealand paintball teams]]
[[Category:Paintball in Taranaki]]
[[Category:1990s in New Zealand paintball]]
[[Category:2000s in New Zealand paintball]]
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