Northern Zone Championships - 26th and 27th of September
Report by Jodi Tiver

The first selection tournament for the 2010 Nationals and Northern Zone Championships was held by the Walkaway Polocrosse Club and with 44 teams nominated it was certainly shaping up as a big weekend.

The sun shone down each day and was a bit of a shock to the system after all the cold weather and rain that hasn't seemed to stop in months! But all the horses and players held up fairly well and everyone took the chance to get some sun on those white legs!

One of the biggest upsets of the weekend happened in round 1 of the Men's comp at 8am with the hotly favoured Centrals 1 team being outplayed and outclassed by the Centrals 2 men! The whole team put in a massive effort and certainly deserved their win. This left the C1 team to play the other favourites Midwest, on Saturday afternoon - a match not many thought they would see until Sunday arvo but boy did the C2 team prove those people wrong! As expected this game was close, fast and very physical with Centrals in the lead going in to the last chukka but a few quick goals thrown by Jeremy Thurkle and aided by Jared Martin in the 3 spot put them right back in the game with very little time left. Rob Sibley came up with the goods and posted a couple of goals to sneak Centrals a 1 goal victory! Centrals 2 again had another hard fight with the Great Southern men but ran out the winners, only by a few goals but enough to put them on top of the ladder to be the only team with 2 wins at the end of Saturday's play.

The Womens games were a little less physical but there was certainly some good polocrosse played with Midwest favourites Jane Cooper and Trish Jones doing all the damage in their games defeating Centrals 2 and Midwest 2 as expected. Centrals 1 had an 8 goal lead going in to the 6th chukka of their game against Midwest 2 but a few penalties were given and only a couple of quick goals kept the blue girls in the lead and put them through to the final against Midwest 1.

Sunday saw lot of tough and dusty games of polocrosse played throughout the grades and the Men's game between Centrals 2 and Midwest was possibly the best game of the year so far! The lead changed hands a few times throughout the game and it can certainly be said that both horses and players albeit it very tired, hot and dirty gave 100% for the entire 6 chukkas. Midwest just crept ahead in the end of the 5th chukka and kept that very small lead to run out the winners of the game and the tournament on a goal count.

RESULTS

MEN'S
Midwest - won on goal count
Champion Pony: 'Roger' ridden by Aiden Thurkle (Midwest)
Fairest and Best Player: Jared Martin (Midwest)
Champion ASH & Overall Champion Men's ASH: 'Edenhope Scoop' ridden by Jared Martin (Midwest)

LADIES'
Midwest 1 d Centrals 1
Champion Pony: 'East Lynne Mtumba' ridden by Jane Cooper (Midwest 1)
Fairest and Best Player: Jane Cooper (Midwest 1)
Champion ASH & Overall Champion Women's ASH: 'East Lynne Mtumba' ridden by Jane Cooper (Midwest 1)

INTERMEDIATE MIXED
Great Southern d Midwest
Champion Pony: 'Way Way Rossi' ridden by Hannah Watkin (GS)
Fairest and Best Player: Hannah Watkin (GS)
Champion ASH: 'Berragoon Smiley' ridden by Sandy Corbett (Centrals)

JUNIORS
Centrals 1 d Midwest 1
Champion Pony: 'Tommy Girl' ridden by Hillary Beech (Centrals)
Fairest and Best Player: Emily Walton (Midwest)
Champion ASH: 'Tommy Girl' ridden by Hillary Beech (Centrals)

B GRADE
Moonyoonooka - won on goal count
Champion Pony: 'Fable' ridden by Greg Rodwell (Foothills)

C GRADE
Kojonup d South Midlands
Champion Pony: 'Pago' ridden by Casey Criddle

C GRADE MIXED
Walkaway d Moonyoonooka
Champion Pony: 'Nandeye Lace' ridden by Catherine Crabb

D GRADE
Walkaway d Perth
Champion Pony: 'Amber' ridden by Kim McGuire

E GRADE
Perth 1 d Walkaway
Champion Pony: 'Whiskey' ridden by Tara Chown