Manchester achieve fifth in Ultimate Frisbee nationals

The middle of March looked bleak as the University Mixed Outdoor Nationals for Ultimate Frisbee were cancelled by hosts Durham due to frozen pitches. But Manchester women’s captain Elly White saved the weekend and organised 21 teams, accommodation, pitches, a party and much more besides all in just three days. Despite the stress for the home team it was a weekend of fantastic, high quality Ultimate Frisbee all round, with several really strong bids for top spot from the first game.

Since they were hosting Halcyon (Manchester) managed to take a big team, meaning that we had plenty of fresh legs and even several beginners making a stellar debut appearance. They took a tough pool by storm, winning three out of four games on the Saturday and holding a close draw with North West rivals Bangor- landing them at the top of their pool, a strong start for Sunday. Predictions were for Mohawks, SussexUniversity and a well-known formidable force on the Ultimate scene, to take top spot.

The pressure was on from the start on Sunday with an intense game against Durham. Neither team held back with Durham bringing out a strong line of women and Manchester using their fantastic long options; it was tense too with a lot of calls stalling play at crucial points for Halcyon, several times ruling out what could have been scores. It was frustrating but tight, landing the teams on a 7-7 draw as the whistle blew and forcing a sudden death point; a close, hard fought point with some frustrating stoppages ending in Durham just taking the game by the skin of their teeth. Despite now being out of the running for the top four Manchester went hard into a game against Oxford, determined to now take 5^th spot. A last minute shock win for Jesters, LeicesterUniversity, put favourites Sussex out of the final. Leicester and Edinburgh brought a tough final with a proud Edinburgh just taking the title for University Mixed Outdoor Nationals 2013.

Manchester went all out for an aggressive last two games against Oxford and Warwick and, after some worryingly close moments, beat both of them with some convincingly strong Ultimate and 100% effort and passion from all team members. Manchester managed to finish in fifth. The club President, Kinga Roszkowska, said it was a weekend that made her ‘proud to be president’ and every team there agreed that Manchester had really stepped up and created an incredible weekend in a ridiculously short space of time.