A Historyof The Emerald City Classic
The Emerald City Classic was established in 2001 by Sara Gersten-Rothenberg of Riot and Josh Monaghan of Sockeye to fill a late summer hole in the Club season calendar.
The tournament's format has lent itself to showcasing the high level of competition. A single pool round robin has given teams challenging opponents and close games every round; a revelation for tournament formats at the time.
By 2004 Ben Wiggins of Sockeye and Miranda Roth of Riot had taken the helm of a tournament that was fast becoming the strongest in the country, if not the world. The tournament field grew deeper year by year, where regularly nine or ten of the top ten finishers from the previous year's UPA Club Championship would attend.
Japan's Buzz Bullets made their first trip to The Emerald City Classic in 2005, where their pinpoint throws and blistering footspeed—hitherto unseen—hearlded them as being among the best teams in the world. Their showcase and finals games against Sockeye in 2006 and 2007 have become classics.
For 2007 the tournament added a Mixed Division. In 2008 the Open Division was placed on hiatus due to scheduling overlap with the WUGC World Championships in Vancouver. And in 2009, The Emerald City Classic hosts all eight Open quarterfinalists from last year's Club Championship; five of the eight Women's quarterfinalists; and six of the eight Mixed quarterfinalists. And with teams travelling from Japan, Great Britain, and Colombia, this year's tournament looks to be the most competitive yet.
Hall of ChampionsPast Winners
| Open | Women's | Mixed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Revolver | Riot | Mental Toss Flycoons |
| 2008 | — | Riot | Shazam Remains |
| 2007 | Sockeye | Fury | Shazam Returns |
| 2006 | Sockeye | Fury | — |
| 2005 | Sockeye | Riot | — |
| 2004 | Jam | Riot | — |
| 2003 | Furious George | Riot | — |
| 2002 | — | — | — |
| 2001 | Condors | Riot | — |
StaffCoordinators & Volunteers
Ben Wiggins — Tournament Director
The 2009 Emerald City Classic is Ben's sixth year at the helm. A stalwart handler for Sockeye's offense, Ben is a graduate of the University of Oregon, where in 2003 he led his team to the finals of the UPA College Championships and he won the Callahan Award, College Ultimate's MVP. He lives in Seattle.
Andy Lovseth — Communications Director & Assistant to the TD
Andy will be handling the media side of the tournament, keeping the rest of the world informed in a collaboration between ECC and The Huddle. He lives in Denver.
Adam Goff — Expert TD Consultant
Mr. Goff is the UPA Open Division director and, when you want to run a tournament well, is a great guy to have for ideas and organization. We're lucky to have him around to organize the staff and direct tournament formatting procedures and act as an impartial arbiter if necessary. He lives in New York.
Devan Larson — Fields Manager
As a past TD of such events as Dirty Deeds, Devan is a great staff member to have keeping the fields in shape, and helping to answer and assist with player's questions and concerns. Snappy dresser. He lives in Bellingham.
Sean Sears — Materials Manager
Sean heads up the staff that runs NW Regionals every year, and he is going to be keeping the water and food available as well as manning the merchandising tents on occasion. He's like lightning in his golf cart. He lives in Bellingham.
Blue Recto — Volunteer
Blue is visiting from the Philippines, where he plays on grass, sand, and wherever else they will let him. He has timed a family trip to join us for the weekend, and will be helping Andy, Sean and Devan keep the tournament running. Welcome, Blue, and glad you could join us!
Miranda Roth & Steve Sullivan — Division Advisors
Steve and Miranda helped in communication, description and discussion of teams in their respective divisions (for which we are extremely grateful!)
Miguel Boriss — Spawnfest and ECC Head Organizer
You might not see much of him, but trust us when we say that Miguel is in charge. As the lead director of the Bellingham Crew that runs the logistics for these sister tournaments Miguel is a fantastic resource. With any luck, he'll be playing during the weekend...if you see him, tell him Thank You!
Shelley Johnstone — Parks Director
A big thank-you to everyone at the Burlington Parks department! Shelley runs an amazing staff, and we are happy to have their help once again at this excellent field site.