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 tournaments in 2000, 2001, 2009 and 2010, with additional discussions preserved from 2006.[1][2][6][7][8]
The early competitions were organised by Paintball Hawke's Bay, with the Hawke's Bay Paintball Club also named in the 2000 announcement. These editions were hosted at Pines Paintball Field on State Highway 50 at Roys Hill, near Hastings.[1][2]
The tournament developed from an earlier recreational paintball event known as Fantasyland. According to the contemporary Mercenaries Star tournament calendar, Fantasyland was replaced by the Hawke's Bay Triples following declining attendance.[3]
The tournament subsequently continued at least into 2010. A photographic archive from that year preserves a competition scoreboard with 16 team entries, together with photographs of the event's prizegiving.[8][9]
History
Origins
The Hawke's Bay Triples developed from an earlier recreational big-game event known as Fantasyland.
The Mercenaries Star tournament calendar described Fantasyland as having been replaced by the Hawke's Bay Triples after participation in recreational big games declined.[3]
The surviving account does not establish Fantasyland's founding date or the precise year in which the Triples competition began.
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 identified several products that would not be accepted, including Evil, All Star, Ruby Red and Premium Gold.
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 tournament retained its three-player format but used centre-flag games under Australian Paintball Players League (APPL) rules.
The published arrangements included:
- Three-player open-class competition.
- Centre-flag format.
- Limited paintball allowance of 100 rounds per end.
- 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 competition 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.
The contents of the discussion have not yet been recovered, and the index alone does not establish the event's dates, participants or results.
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.[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.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Dates | 7–8 February 2009 |
| Venue | 75/77 Ngatarawa Road, Bridge Pa, Hastings |
| Format | Three-player 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 |
| Gas cylinder hire | NZ$20 per tank |
The organisers advertised camping facilities and included meals and refreshments as part of the event arrangements.
The entry deadline was 31 January 2009.[7]
Confirmation and photography
Post-event messages published on 10 February 2009 confirmed that the tournament had taken place.
On 22 February, Les Hall discussed arrangements for publishing photographs of the event.
A link to a Flickr photography collection was subsequently shared on 23 February 2009.[7]
The final standings and complete list of participating teams have not been recovered.
2010 tournament
The Hawke's Bay Triples continued into 2010, as confirmed by a contemporary photographic collection published on Flickr.[8][9]
The album, titled Hawkes Bay Triples 2010, was published by photographer L. M. Bennett through the TempusFugit2008 account.
It contains 41 photographs documenting the event, including images of the competition scoreboard, prizegiving, participants, catering and equipment areas.[9]
The scoreboard photograph was taken on 7 February 2010 and uploaded on 15 February 2010.[8]
The photographs establish that the tournament took place in 2010, although the full event dates and venue have not been independently established.
2010 participating teams
The photographed scoreboard contains 16 team entries arranged alongside a grid of match records.[8]
Fourteen team names can be read with reasonable confidence:
| Team |
|---|
| GPS |
| DEA |
| Bush |
| Arachnids |
| Adrenalin |
| Happymeal A |
| Happymeal B |
| Aces |
| Skullz |
| Mole |
| Assassinz |
| Hell Boys |
| Buccaneers |
| Pirates |
Two additional handwritten team names are visible but cannot be transcribed reliably from the available photograph.
The names above reproduce the readable scoreboard entries. Their ordering does not represent tournament placings.
The records do not establish whether teams sharing similar names with earlier New Zealand tournament organisations were the same squads.
2010 scoreboard and results
The 2010 scoreboard photograph preserves a grid of results, with fifteen numbered columns alongside the participating teams.[8]
However, most individual numerical scores and the totals at the right of the board are insufficiently legible to reproduce accurately.
The photograph therefore provides evidence of team participation and the competition's scoring arrangements, but does not establish the final standings.
The winning team, runners-up and complete classification remain unverified.
Prizegiving
The 2010 Flickr album is described as a collection of prizegiving photographs.
It includes photographs specifically labelled with Les Hall's name, providing further evidence of his association with the event during this period.[9]
The album also contains photographs of participants and event facilities.
The identities of individual prize recipients and their awards have not been independently established from the available captions.
Venues
The surviving historical sources 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 supplied the Bridge Pa address but did not identify the location as Pines Paintball Field.[7]
The available records do not establish when the tournament changed venues or whether both locations were operated by the same organisation.
The exact location of the 2010 tournament has not been independently established.
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 score, with 84.3.
The Wellington Phoenix organisation entered three separately recorded squads: Red, Grey and Orange.
Other organisations with multiple recorded entries included Crossfire and DamNatives.
The rankings also preserve evidence of participation by smaller teams including Total Kaos, DaBayBoyz, Warp Speed, Brew Ha and Nutters.
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 tournament placing.
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 rankings were headed by DamNatives Red with 226.4 points, followed by Insane with 181.7 and Tag n' Release GPS with 159.3.
These totals combined performances across multiple tournaments and do not represent the final standings of the Hawke's Bay Triples.
Historical records
The principal surviving sources for the Hawke's Bay Triples include the original 2000 and 2001 tournament announcements, the Mercenaries Star tournament calendar, the Valhalla National Rankings, and archived discussions from the NZ Paintball Message Boards.
The 2009 and 2010 photographic records extend the documented history of the tournament beyond the early editions.
The 2010 scoreboard is particularly useful because it preserves names of participating teams that are otherwise absent from the earlier records.
Complete final standings for the documented editions have not been recovered.
The available sources do not establish whether the competition was held every year between 2001 and 2010, or when the tournament 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, venue, organisers, entry fees and playing format.
- Hawkes Bay Triples – February 2001. Mercenaries Star. Contemporary tournament announcement identifying the dates, 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 Fantasyland.
- Valhalla Hall of Heroes – 2001. Mercenaries Star. National three-player rankings containing Hawke's Bay Triples opening-round results.
- Tag n' Release Team Profile. Russell Clement, April 2001. Contemporary record of the team's 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, post-event discussion and photography references.
- HBT2010 – Scoreboard. L. M. Bennett, Flickr. Photograph taken 7 February 2010 and uploaded 15 February 2010.
- Hawkes Bay Triples 2010. L. M. Bennett, Flickr. Collection of 41 photographs documenting the 2010 competition and prizegiving.