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Rochester is three hours from the closest regional (Toronto). Given that that regional takes place in Canada it is very difficult for some teams to travel there (some school districts ban travel to other countries). The next closest regional is four hours away in Cleveland. After that, there are several regionals that are six hours away. Basically, there's nothing particularly close to us.
One of the main reasons to holding a regional in Rochester is to grow the number of teams in the area. There are six teams in the immediate vicinity of Rochester which is a significant amount for a city the size of Rochester that is no where near a competition. However, there are less teams in the surrounding area. It's definitely possible for their to be more teams in the area and having a regional here increases that ability. Persuant to that, FIRST named Rochester an area of growth for 2005.
Matt
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