G'day ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Today was a big day for the Sevens squad and we were tormented all through the night by Wellington's well-renowned whistling wind. But no matter the weather conditions, we were all looking forward to getting a good run in against the Argentineans. Our scrimmage didn't go as well as planned and we definitely were not all present at the same time when necessary, but although very frustrating for all, it is something you just have to work through and we all understand that we have our bad days and we would prefer that to happen today rather than game day. On that note we raised our heads and moved on to the next challenge facing us that day.
On to, The World Series of Go Karting. We as a team have realized that the more team building we can squeeze in the better for everyone, so we have taken on a new hobby as a squad and that is Karting. We had our inaugural event in San Diego during our training camp and it was very well received by all. Our trusty liaison and mom while we are here in Wellington, Hills took the job on to find us a track and a facility that would indulge a group of rugby players. She did a phenomenal job and our coach very thankfully offered to pick up the tab for all of us.
Where to start? There was definitely some pre match banter from a few individuals. 'Tin-Tin' aka Marco Barnard was very happy to shout his mouth off about how he was the best thing since sliced bread when it came to this event and our eagle bearer aka 'I'm an over achiever' Teef, was very adamant in letting our only female competitor have a seat. 'Metro man' (Colin Hawley) and the 'Hebrew Hammer' (Zach Test) aka 'the Jonas Brothers' were joyously cheering and dancing throughout and really should have focused more on the task at hand, but that is hard to do when you're a Disney channel regular.
Into the race we went and just to clarify, we were paired up and would race a 60 lap relay. Each team would be deducted points for poor driving. The race started off at a furious pace and all that could be heard were screeching tires that were being driven past their limit and the clattering of the steel frames that surround the carts. The first few laps could have been referred to as a demolition derby with very little strategy or tactical driving beeing utilized. Everything was on the line and nobody wanted to give an inch. After about 30 laps, there was a clear separation between the teams that were here to compete for the title and teams that were merely taking up space on the track. This was highlighted wonderfully with our man 'Pudding' hitting a line drive with his cart in to a large steel bar which had him wobbling like jello and the other saw our ivy league gangster sloped down cruising the neighborhood blaring his latest 'What What' track. After 60 laps we were all soaked in our sweat as though we had been contorting our bodies in a hot yoga class for an hour!!!
We all were very squeamish awaiting the final result of the race. Without a shadow of a doubt team DARK GREEN surged in to 1st place with precision and experience throughout the race. Paul "Father Time' Emerick and Matt "Polar Bear' Hawkins took pole position and made everyone green with envy when receiving the trophy.
There were some very sore losers and a couple people left on struggle street, but I have no doubt that dinner tonight will be filled with laughter and collective banter regarding what shoulda coulda happened…
