[Jonathan Norris]

I probably should have said this earlier when registration was still open. But I must convey my appreciation for the Waterloo Regional and the great experience I had last year. Out of all the competitions we went to last year (Waterloo, GTR, and the Championship), Waterloo was my favorite. There are several reasons for this, many because how it is a smaller regional (maybe too small this year...). The regional is held at the University of Waterloo and has a great venue with the pits right beside the field, and is a very open environment. Because it is a smaller regional you really get a chance to play with and get to know most of the teams. I know my team last year made great connections with many of the teams that went there, especially 188, 771, 1114, and 1503.

I have heard the argument that you get the same teams at GTR, which is 95% true, but the fact is that GTR is HUGE there are 65+ teams and you rarely will play the same team twice. I would say to all Canadian teams who are not coming to Waterloo that think of GTR as the Canadian Championship (very similar environment to a championship division), and that Waterloo is a competition where everyone can be competitive. We used it last year as our warm-up to GTR the next weekend, and we got far more out of it than we had imagined.

I would also say that I have met more friends at Waterloo than I have at any of the GTR competitions, because of the much closer environment. Currently there are 17 teams signed up (and a couple pending, 610 included), I hope we get a good turnout this year because it is a great event which deserves our support.