Inagural Canadian Pacific Regional --- Wow!

[dtengineering]

Okay, I know its “inaugural”… but apparently that slipped my mind when I was asked to proof read the T-shirt design. Ooops.

Thanks to a huge amount of support from experienced volunteers from Ontario, Alberta, and Washington State this event ran like a charm.

The veteran teams who visited from Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and California made a real impact on our teams from BC… who also stepped their game up this season. “What did you feed the BC teams in the off-season?” was asked of me more than once. The 12 rookies and 8 second year teams from BC did a great job. (and now we’ve got four teams heading to Houston!)

Congratulations to 1868, the Space Cookies, on a very deserving Chairman’s win (and thank you for bolstering the volunteer corps!) and to 1241, Theory 6, on being captain of the Winning Alliance (and helping a rookie middle school team from Quesnel have possibly the most amazing Rookie Inspiration experience ever.) Joining 1241 on the winning alliance were Hephastaeus 6390 (who also won EI and are now making plans for their second trip to Houston) and rookie team Iris, 7173. Those are now the first two teams from BC to ever win a championship.

7287, the Esquimalt Atom Smashers earned a well-deserved Rookie All-Star award and rounding out the Houston-bound teams are a couple wildcards from the finalist alliance, including captain 4627 Manning Robotics, from Alberta, and the little orange rookie flipper 'bot from Rainstorms 7190 that made a royal pain in the butt of itself to all opponents by repeatedly scoring on their switch. A very experienced FRC watcher noted that he could see that little bot ending up on Einstein as the second pick of a couple of awesome balance scorers and climbers. Not likely, perhaps… but definitely not impossible. “Do one thing well.” is often the secret to rookie success.

As if that wasn’t enough awesome for three days, when the motorcade arrived at lunch on the qualifying day, B.C. Premier John Horgan and a few cabinet ministers and MLA’s dropped by to visit teams and check out the competition. Yes… that is the Premier of B.C. driving a robot… and he was pretty good at it, too. (He was driving the 6406 'bot, from Saltspring Island… they had a great machine and I fully expect to see them winning a competition in the next couple years.)

News video at: https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/mobile/video?clipId=1349147 and a live broadcast at 14:50 of this link https://www.cheknews.ca/5pm-newscast-march-15-2018-429540/

It’s taken 15 years… but FIRST has finally found a home in British Columbia.

[hpeyerl]

Our team had a great time. I’m not as seasoned a mentor as many but of the events I’ve been to, I have to say this was one of the better run events. The matches actually ran ahead of schedule. The layout of the pits / game field was amazing. To be able to watch the match on the big screen from the pits was a nice touch (especially since our pit was right under one of the screens).

One thing I see repeated at all of the events I’ve been to in the past is being told “no food or drink in the pits”. While I can definitely agree that you don’t want big sloppy pizzas in the pits, it’s important for teams to be able to hydrate without going for a 5 minute walk, especially when you’re in the midst of a long repair or fabrication project. Usually by the second day of an event, everyone seems to disregard this and the cartons of water bottles begin to appear. I understand the concession wants their revenue as well but I’m not going to ask a 16 year old to spend $4.50 on a small bottle of water.

Enough negativity. Event highlights for me was watching 1241 helping other teams (including ours) debug and repair issues. Choosing 7190 as our 1st pick and inspecting their bot which was the epitomy of KISS. There was literally nothing to address on that robot before finals and it was a beautiful little bot and they were a terrific team. Listening to (I wish I could remember his name) pit admin’s pit-clearing rendition of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire”. Finally, watching the excitement in our kids as the realization set in that they were in finals (a first for our team) and going to world’s.

It’s a great venue and I’d like to think we’ll be back. (it’s not my decision).

[dtengineering]

Glad you had a great time! I 100% agree about hydration… empty water bottles are allowed into every venue as far as I know, and there are fountains and taps to refill them. I used to have a nice little water bottle that clipped to my belt so that it was always with me. Perhaps a nice opportunity to get some team-branded merchandise.

The venue was excellent… that huge screen really makes a difference! I particularly liked the fact that it was in walking distance to downtown Victoria, and that Victoria has just enough interesting walkable scenery downtown to keep a team engaged for a few evenings. Perhaps, going forward, we’ll be able to build on this to make an even more engaging experience for our guests.

Working with 7190 earlier in the season our strategy was to position them as a strong second round pick… congratulations to your scouting team for identifying them as a critical first round selection. I don’t think anyone was going to take down 1241 and 6390 once they hooked up, but it was impressive how one little flip bot kept a much more complex machine tied up defending it’s own switch.

We’ve got a lot of work going forward to build up a volunteer corps in BC. The magic smoothness of this event was thanks to some miracle workers from Ontario and Alberta who came out to show us how its done. And if you want a pit-clearing rendition of Johnny Cash in Calgary, just ask for Blair!

Thanks for coming out to help kick things off, and congratulations on qualifying for Houston!

Jason

[hpeyerl]

I did notice the many water bottles. I regret not realizing that prior to your mentioning it. I’ll add it to our team members’ packing list.

[MalavyaS]

On behalf of FRC Team 1241 – THEORY6, I would like to thank everyone involved making the Canadian Pacific Regional possible. It was one of the smoothest events we have ever attended, and our team had an amazing time. Everyone was really nice and incredibly supportive of all the teams in attendance. We had the chance to meet so many new amazing teams, and it was really inspirational to see how motivated every team was towards impacting the FIRST community in British Columbia.

Unfortunately we did not get the chance to see too much of Victoria, but downtown was very charming and scenic. Perhaps we can return again and have more time to see the beauty of the Canadian West Coast.

Congratulations to Team 1868 – The Space Cookies for earning the Chairman’s Award, you are truly a deserving team. Congratulations to Team 6390 – Hephaestus for earning the Engineering Inspiration award, and for Julie Occleshaw on winning the Woodie Flowers Award. We had the pleasure of working with you first hand during the elimination rounds on the same alliance, and are honored to be able to win the regional with you. We would also like to thank our 3rd alliance member Team 7173 – Iris Robotics for being absolutely amazing in terms of executing the alliance strategy, we couldn’t have done it without you. Finally congratulations to finalists Team 7190, 4627, and 5078 for being such a powerful alliance and having such great strategy throughout the elimination rounds.

I hope Team 1241 was able to inspire the teams attending this event. We are truly honored to have played amongst such great teams and we are thankful for every team and volunteer attending the event, you made us feel at home.

[Lili_1868]

Team 1868 would like to thank all the amazing volunteers who made this event possible, we had a blast! Like others said above, this was one of the smoothest events we’ve ever been to; very impressive, especially as an inaugural event.

Huge thank you to 4334 and 5118, for being amazing alliance partners, we had a great time playing with both of you. Congratulations to the winning alliance, 1241, 6390, and 7173 for a very well-deserved win. Robots and strategies like yours never cease to inspire us. Another congratulations to 6390 for receiving the Engineering Inspiration award! We were amazed at how much you guys have progressed and grown in just two years. Shout out to all the amazing rookie teams who attended the event, we were impressed with all the robot designs.

Thank you to all the teams who attended and those who made this event possible, we had such a great experience there.

[philso]

I’m looking forward to meeting the four teams from my home province of B.C. at Championship in Houston.

[prensing]

Congrats on a successful new event, from an expat Victorian.

Paul Rensing
UVic 1986