President's Bulletin:
Updated 1st March 2026
66 Road Warriors descended on Preston to contest the first instalment of the Warzone Belt league. As usual the Panthers treated us very well, feeding the competitors & some of the hangers on for free. I had a lot of fun over the weekend & was impressed by a lot of the new blood that have appeared to challenge the old guard.
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There were some teething problems my end. I had difficult compiling the scores for the playoffs once we had gone through the 388 matches to determine the top 12 so lost some time until I realised how to improve this & did so for the right arm, but it was a later than usual finish because of that delay. It wasn't practical to run a tier 2 final - I don't think any of those who got their ten pins for their 7th - 12th places were that keen to pull more as there were some amazing efforts & wars. On the right arm we had 322 matches to determine the top 12 as I reduced to countback once we had the six finalists. I have a lot of data to look at for numbers & think that it will likely evolve that after the top 6 finalists get their 10 pins, the 7th & 8th will also continue to get their 10 (these are the first reserves if anyone drops out of the final as has sometimes happened). Thereafter the threshold is lower or goes to countback depending on time.
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The dynamic of the competition was very good - the regular contingent from Odin's in Devon battled some of the travelling Scottish with Wales, London, Leeds, Midlands & Newcastle also attending. Carol Jones & Satin Violet were the only two ladies attending & had a right arm best of 5 supermatch. Violet decided to enter the left arm warzone to warm up - much smaller & lighter than everyone else. Two tier2 pullers: Bogdan Bodiu & Cosmin Boticas who classified as Novices for the extra first round (they were new last year getting places in Motherwell & Leeds respectivley) got into the overall finals. Progression coming quickly for them, they are into the pros, congratulations. Meanwhile Dom Crane, Tom Mitchell & Anthony Sandall - all under 83kg - were also in the overall finals.
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Mateusz Matuszczak had first touch on the 2026 warzone belt when he won the left arm. He likes the look of it & plans to take it home with him after the Birmingham season final in October. Callum Rice & Chris Rimmer said much less, but after the right arm are the current leaders with 20 points each. To win will require some consistent performances with both arms at multiple events. There are plenty of opportunities to overtake them even if you have been planning your next move from the comfort of your Aunt Faye's couch. Get up, at least be a roadblock to the ones chasing it. We're at Motherwell next (see events calendar) & at least 5 other locations after that.
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Over in Austria our high level export Bogdan Stoica was on the East vs West card along with Kamil Jablonski. Kamil doesn't live here anymore, but he used to be among us. Jake Starling, Mark Waldon, Mantas Dauneckis, Michael Jervis & Rob Frampton were also over there (maybe more, but my attention has been here mostly) & they will likely tell their own stories on their return.
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Armgods Battle of the Pipes in Falkirk is now only a fortnight away, I'm looking forward to being there in the middle of it all while the battles take place. I don't know if tickets are still available, I got mine early - but you can watch from the sofa (or behind it if you are timid) by visiting www.armgods.com & buying your electronic pass/key/subscription whatever it is called.
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Lots of other things going on, the events calendar is where you find out where & when.
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See you down the road.