Grafton Jacaranda Carnival 2009

[Mr bEn]

Dates will be 17-18 October.

Will post nomination info when it is released in September.

[Mr bEn]

Entries have now opened, with dates confirmed as 17/18 October.

Four divisions for both men and women: A, B, C and 40+.

Entry is $230 for A Grade, and $200 for all other grades. Not sure what the prizemoney is.

Entries close 1st October. Grafton haven't put the rego forms up on their site yet, but you can email them on vikings@northnet.com.au for those and further info.

[Mr bEn]

A quick reminder that noms for Grafton close this Thursday.

Well worth the effort to get there if you can. IMHO the best all-ages carnival within close proximity to SE QLD, second only to Maroochy.

[Mr bEn]

Anybody got a report from the Grafton weekend ... how was it?

[b j p]

Was a great weekend, albeit hurting even today from alcohol enforced dehydrated muscle pain.

Drive down was better than expected. We left around 500 and arrived down there at 1030 local time with a stop in Ballina for some chow. The fire delays that had been mentioned on the news were non-existant.

After a good drink at the crown, who's main bar was closed due to a brawl, we hit the hay around 130am extremely well watered. Our draw had our first game at 1045 which was nice considering some games started at 815 (715 QLD TIME!). Being that we played B grade our games were mainly on courts 3-4 which were improved over my last visit to Grafton. No longer do the 3 pt lines connect to the 45 degree sideline, and all courts had nets. The only disappointment basketabll wise on Saturday were that the courts were as dirty as ever which lead to multiple ankle/knee injuries being seen.

We lost both games on Saturday to a very sober grafton team and a bunch of far too athletic U/23 gold coast team. However, by 1pm this disappointment was washed away until 230 into Sunday morning.

The nightlife was a bit dull compared to my last trip to Grafton, we did a pub crawl looking for some action but found single teams scattered around. On returning to our first stop, the PO, only half of us could get in as they set a limit on guests. To meet Grafton fire and safety laws, broom handles and peices of scrap wood were used to lock revellers inside. That ended promptly at 1am when the lights were turned on and everyone kicked out.

Sunday morning games included many forfeits, most unsuprisingly from the coastal boys were noted as keeping the hotels in grafton profitable. Our games were played with a die hard spirit not to lose our breakfast and win a game of which we did against, none other than the very hungover coastal team. I might also note that the floors on Sunday were actually really good. The drive home was painful with a hangover, sore muscles and a prolific number of sunday drivers around.

Thanks to Bruce and his gaggle of ladies for organising the carnival. All games had referees (in most cases two), scorers from previous games, and were on time.