2010 London Open Bike Polo

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That’s right, polo on a bike! On Saturday GGB headed over on a leisurely cycle to Newington Gardens, Southwark to soak up some of the pedal charged atmosphere of the 2010 London Open Bike Polo Tournament.

The event is organised by the London Hard-court Bike Polo Association and what a good job they did too! I had never heard of bike polo until a few weeks ago and it is, as you might imagine, polo on bikes instead of horses, goals instead of two posts and is played in a cage not an open field.

The game itself is technically quite difficult and appeared to be pretty rough at times, with players coming off their bikes on more than one occasion, although this was nothing for some of the hardened pavement-chaffed cyclists taking part. The bikes are modified in that players make wheel covers out of corrugated plastic to protect spokes and create solid blocking surfaces. Mallets are usually made from high density gas pipes or ABS piping for the head and a ski pole for the shaft.

Teams were invited from around the world to take part in the two-day event which consisted of 40 teams vying for the title of 2010 champion, with teams coming from countries as far away as the USA, Canada and Australia. The event and prizes were sponsored by 14 Bike Co and supported generally by the London Polo Community who pitched together to ensure all foreign teams had a sofa to sleep on. The competitive event took place on the Saturday, with a BBQ & beers ensuing shortly afterwards, as I gather they did the night before…

The atmosphere, support and organisation at the event were first-class and we would personally recommend Bike Polo to any cyclist wanting to get involved in a slightly alternative cycling scene / sport whilst meeting some very interesting people.

We’re now definitely up for giving it a go!

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