Hawke’s Bay Triples
Hawke's Bay Triples (also advertised as the Hawkes Bay Triples Competition and Hawkesbay Triples) was a three-player paintball tournament held in the Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand.
Contemporary records document the competition in 2000 and 2001, with additional tournament discussions during 2006 and a confirmed event on 7–8 February 2009.[1][2][6][7]
The early editions were organised by Paintball Hawke's Bay at its Pines Paintball Field near Hastings, with the Hawke's Bay Paintball Club also named in the 2000 announcement.[1][2]
The 2009 tournament was held at a field on Ngatarawa Road, Bridge Pa, near Hastings. The competition retained its three-player format, with limited paintball allowances and an emphasis on participation by teams from different regions.[7]
History
Origins
The Hawke's Bay Triples developed from an earlier recreational paintball event known as Fantasyland.
The contemporary Mercenaries Star tournament calendar reported that Fantasyland had been replaced by the Hawke's Bay Triples following declining attendance at recreational big-game events.[3]
The available records do not establish the date of the first Triples competition or the complete history of Fantasyland.
2000 tournament
The Hawke's Bay Triples was advertised for 6–7 February 2000 at Pines Paintball Field, State Highway 50, Roys Hill, Hawke's Bay.[1]
The event was presented by Paintball Hawke's Bay and the Hawke's Bay Paintball Club.
The published arrangements specified:
- Three-player open-class competition.
- Limited paintball allowance of 100 rounds.
- Standard tournament rules.
- Entry fee of NZ$30 per team.
- Paintballs priced at NZ$0.10 each.
- Field paint or approved privately supplied paintballs.
- Compressed air to be provided by players.
The registration form permitted squads of up to five players.
The organisers prohibited staining paintballs and listed several products that would not be accepted.
Les Hall was named as the tournament contact.[1]
The event's final results have not been recovered.
2001 tournament
The following edition was advertised for 3–4 February 2001 at the same Pines Paintball Field.[2]
The competition retained its three-player format but used centre-flag games under Australian Paintball Players League (APPL) rules.
The published arrangements included:
- Open-class three-player competition.
- Limited paintball allowance of 100 rounds per end.
- Centre-flag format.
- Entry fee of NZ$30 per player.
- Privately supplied paintballs permitted.
- Carbon dioxide available at NZ$80 per G cylinder.
- Compressed-air arrangements remaining the players' responsibility.
Paintball Hawke's Bay again presented the tournament, with Les Hall named as the contact.[2]
Partial results survive through the Valhalla National Rankings, which recorded the tournament as Hawkesbay Triples – Round 1 Open.[4]
2006 tournament reference
An archived NZ Paintball Message Boards index from February 2006 contains a discussion titled HB Triples.[6]
The discussion had received 23 replies by 6 February 2006.
This establishes that the tournament was being discussed during 2006, although the individual discussion contents and any associated competition results have not yet been recovered.
2009 tournament
The Hawke's Bay Triples was held on 7–8 February 2009 at a paintball field located at:
75/77 Ngatarawa Road, Bridge Pa, Hastings, New Zealand.[7]
The event was advertised through the NZ Paintball Message Boards on 24 January 2009.
The tournament used a three-player round-robin format with limited paintball allowances and peer refereeing.
The published arrangements were:
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Dates | 7–8 February 2009 |
| Location | 75/77 Ngatarawa Road, Bridge Pa, Hastings |
| Team format | Three-player |
| Competition | Round robin |
| Game duration | Five minutes |
| Paint allowance | One additional pod per player per game |
| Refereeing | Peer refereeing |
| Entry fee | NZ$50 per player |
| Paintballs | NZ$80 per case |
| Compressed gas | Bring your own, with hire arrangements available |
| Gas cylinder hire | NZ$20 per tank |
The organisers also advertised camping facilities and included meals and refreshments as part of the event arrangements.[7]
The entry deadline was 31 January 2009.
Confirmation of the event
Post-event messages published on 10 February 2009 described the competition and thanked those involved.
The discussion subsequently included requests for tournament photographs.
On 22 February, Les Hall posted about arrangements to make the photographs available. A link to a Flickr collection was subsequently shared on 23 February.[7]
These contemporary reports establish that the 2009 tournament took place.
The final standings, winning team and complete list of participants have not been recovered.
Historical photography
A link to photographs from the 2009 event was published in the tournament discussion on 23 February 2009.
The photographs were associated with the Flickr account Tempus Fugit Photos.[7]
The original collection may provide additional evidence concerning participating teams, equipment and the playing field, subject to verification of the photographs and their dates.
Venues
The surviving announcements identify two locations used by the competition.
| Period | Venue | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 2000–2001 | Pines Paintball Field | State Highway 50, Roys Hill, Hawke's Bay |
| 2009 | Paintball field at Ngatarawa Road | 75/77 Ngatarawa Road, Bridge Pa, Hastings |
The 2000 and 2001 announcements explicitly identified Pines Paintball Field as the venue.[1][2]
The 2009 announcement provided the Bridge Pa address but did not identify the location as Pines Paintball Field.[7]
The surviving sources do not establish when the competition changed venues or whether the two locations had the same operator.
2001 tournament results
Valhalla records
The Valhalla National Rankings incorporated results from the 2001 Hawke's Bay Triples into its national three-player rankings.[4]
The surviving table contains fifteen team entries with non-zero values in the Hawkesbay Triples – Round 1 Open column.
These values represent normalised opening-round scores rather than confirmed final tournament placings.
| Team | Normalised score |
|---|---|
| House Steiner | 84.3 |
| Phoenix (WGN) Red | 75.0 |
| Phoenix (WGN) Grey | 64.9 |
| Tag n' Release GPS | 64.3 |
| Damage | 62.9 |
| Total Kaos | 57.1 |
| Crossfire GBH | 52.1 |
| Phoenix (WGN) Orange | 50.0 |
| DamNatives Red | 46.4 |
| DaBayBoyz | 46.4 |
| Crossfire BG | 43.0 |
| Warp Speed | 37.1 |
| Brew Ha | 31.4 |
| DamNatives Black | 29.4 |
| Nutters | 26.8 |
Source: Valhalla National Rankings, 2001.[4]
The teams are listed in descending order of their opening-round scores. The table does not establish the tournament's final classification.
Leading teams
House Steiner recorded the highest surviving opening-round value, with 84.3.
The Wellington Phoenix organisation entered three separately recorded squads: Red, Grey and Orange.
Other organisations with multiple entries included Crossfire and DamNatives.
The records provide evidence of participation by teams including Total Kaos, DaBayBoyz, Warp Speed, Brew Ha and Nutters, whose individual tournament histories are less extensively documented.
Tag n' Release
A contemporary Tag n' Release team profile recorded the following performance at the 2001 Hawke's Bay Triples:[5]
- Competition: Round 1 Open
- Placing: Fourth
- Points earned: 900
- Points available: 1,400
The recorded score corresponds to approximately 64.3 per cent of the available points, matching the team's normalised value of 64.3 in the Valhalla rankings.
The profile therefore corroborates the opening-round ranking entry.
It does not independently establish the team's final placing in the tournament.
Relationship with national rankings
The Valhalla National Rankings maintained separate standings for different tournament formats.
In 2001, its three-player rankings incorporated results from the Hawke's Bay Triples alongside other competitions, including the Indoor Three-Man Open, National Three-Man Centre Flag Championships and Combat Zone Three-Mans.[4]
The published national championship was headed by DamNatives Red with 226.4 ranking points, followed by Insane with 181.7 and Tag n' Release GPS with 159.3.
These totals combined performances across different events and do not represent the final standings of the Hawke's Bay Triples.
Historical records
The principal surviving historical sources are the original 2000 and 2001 tournament announcements, the Mercenaries Star calendar, the Valhalla National Rankings and archived discussions from the NZ Paintball Message Boards.
Together, these sources document the event's early organisation, competition rules, participating teams, venues and later activity.
The 2009 Yuku archive extends the tournament's documented history beyond the period previously established by the Mercenaries Star records.
Complete results for the 2000, 2001 and 2009 competitions have not been recovered. The available sources also do not establish whether the tournament was held every year between the documented editions or when it ceased operating.
See also
- Paintball in New Zealand
- Paintball in Hawke's Bay
- Paintball Hawke's Bay
- Hawke's Bay Paintball Club
- Valhalla National Rankings
- Tag n' Release
- Northland Open
- NZ Paintball Message Boards
- Mercenaries Star
References
- Hawkes Bay Triples Competition – February 2000. Mercenaries Star. Contemporary tournament announcement identifying the dates, Roys Hill venue, organisers, entry fees and playing format.
- Hawkes Bay Triples – February 2001. Mercenaries Star. Contemporary announcement identifying the dates, venue, centre-flag format, APPL rules and equipment arrangements.
- Annual Tournament Events, 2001. Mercenaries Star. Tournament calendar describing the development of the Hawke's Bay Triples from the earlier Fantasyland recreational event.
- Valhalla Hall of Heroes – 2001. Mercenaries Star. National three-man rankings containing Hawke's Bay Triples opening-round results.
- Tag n' Release Team Profile. Russell Clement, April 2001. Contemporary record of the team's 2001 Hawke's Bay Triples opening-round result.
- NZ Paintball Message Forum – Other Tourney Events, archived 7 February 2006. Forum index containing an HB Triples discussion.
- NZ Paintball Message Boards – HB Triples 2009, archived 18 August 2009. Contemporary tournament announcement dated 24 January 2009, with post-event discussions and a photograph collection reference.