2026 Arena Paintball Easter Race
The 2026 Arena Paintball Easter Race was a five-player paintball tournament held on 4–5 April 2026 at Arena Paintball in Feilding, New Zealand. It was the opening round of the 2026 Arena Five-Man Race Series, featuring fourteen teams competing in separate Cup and Plate finals.[1][2][6]
Manawatu Titans topped the event's championship points standings with 200 points, followed by Sydney SWAT with 186 and Expendables with 173. CULT Paintball Team won the Plate competition and received 150 championship points.[5][7] A contemporary report independently confirmed Expendables' third-place finish.[8]
Teams and pools
[edit]The published tournament draw divided fourteen participating teams into two pools.[2]
| Pool A | Pool B |
|---|---|
| Ballistics Unit 2 | Ballistics Unit 1 |
| Expendables | BOP Blast |
| Lycans | Chaos |
| Misfits | CULT |
| Reavers | Immortal Knights |
| Surge | Lumberjacks |
| Sydney SWAT | Manawatu Titans |
Tournament format
[edit]The event used a five-player race format, with preliminary round-robin matches followed by knockout finals. The organiser provided separate Cup and Plate competitions, each with its own awards.[6]
Results
[edit]Cup and Plate
[edit]The organiser's championship points allocation placed Manawatu Titans first overall, ahead of Sydney SWAT and Expendables.[5]
CULT Paintball Team confirmed that it won the Plate competition in a Facebook post published on 8 April 2026. The team subsequently returned to Arena Paintball for the second round of the series in July.[7]
| Competition | Result | Team |
|---|---|---|
| Overall championship points | 1st | Manawatu Titans |
| Overall championship points | 2nd | Sydney SWAT |
| Overall championship points | 3rd | Expendables |
| Plate | 1st | CULT Paintball Team |
Reported knockout result
[edit]Polynésie la 1ère reported that Expendables lost 4–0 to Manawatu Titans in the knockout phase and finished third in the tournament.[8]
| Team | Score | Team |
|---|---|---|
| Manawatu Titans | 4–0 | Expendables |
Championship points
[edit]On 23 June 2026, Arena Paintball published the following series points allocation for the Easter Race. The figures represent championship points awarded for the event, rather than individual match scores.[5]
| Published position | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manawatu Titans | 200 |
| 2 | Sydney SWAT | 186 |
| 3 | Expendables | 173 |
| 4 | Lumberjacks | 161 |
| 5 | CULT Paintball Team | 150 |
| 6 | Reavers | 140 |
| 7 | Surge | 130 |
| 8 | Ballistics Unit 1 | 121 |
| 9 equal | Ballistics Unit 2 | 112 |
| 9 equal | BOP Blast | 112 |
| 10 equal | Misfits | 104 |
| 10 equal | Immortal Knights | 104 |
| 11 equal | Lycans | 96 |
| 11 equal | Chaos | 96 |
Positions and equal-point groupings follow the organiser's published results. CULT's Plate victory was a separate competition result and did not make it the overall event winner.
Preliminary play
[edit]On 4 April, Arena Paintball published photographs of preliminary score sheets for both pools. These recorded incomplete preliminary play, with matches remaining, and did not establish the final tournament placings.[3][4]
Polynésie la 1ère subsequently reported Expendables' six preliminary results: four victories followed by two draws.[8]
| Team | Score | Opponent |
|---|---|---|
| Expendables | 4–0 | Misfits |
| Expendables | 4–0 | Ballistics Unit |
| Expendables | 4–0 | Lycans |
| Expendables | 3–1 | Reavers |
| Expendables | 3–3 | Surge |
| Expendables | 2–2 | Sydney SWAT |
The report names the Ballistics opponent without an entry number; the published Pool A draw lists Ballistics Unit 2.[2][8]
See also
[edit]- Arena Paintball
- 2026 Arena Paintball Matariki Race
- 2026 Arena Paintball Labour Day Cup
- History of paintball in New Zealand
References
[edit]- Arena Paintball – 2026 tournament calendar.
- Arena Paintball – Easter Race pools and draw, Facebook, 23 March 2026.
- Arena Paintball – Round 1 Pool A interim scores, Facebook, 4 April 2026.
- Arena Paintball – Round 1 Pool B interim scores, Facebook, 4 April 2026.
- Arena Paintball – Arena Cup series points after Event 1, Facebook, 23 June 2026.
- Paintball Direct NZ – 2026 Arena Race events, tournament format and Cup and Plate awards.
- CULT Paintball Team – Round 1 report confirming first place in the Plate competition, Facebook, 8 April 2026.
- David Chang, “Paintball : un Polynésien mène son équipe jusqu'au podium en Nouvelle-Zélande”, Polynésie la 1ère, 6 April 2026.