Rolls Report: Feb. 23 – Above Freezing

It was another beautiful winter-turning-to-spring weekend last week in Pittsburgh. Temperatures creeped to just above freezing to reach an almost comfortable 33F. Unfortunately, Sunday Rolls were cancelled due to wet forecasts. It did rain between Saturday and Sunday, but high winds ended up being the real danger on Sunday.

With Raceday just 6 weeks of questionable weather patterns away, teams are beginning to take a serious look at their Hill 2 push offs. Unfortunately, the pot holes along the hill make it exceedingly difficult to get much definitive information. Perhaps next year we can introduce a new sport: Buggy Slalom Races.

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99th Raceday is Around the corner + Sweeps & BAA Updates!

Hey there buggy fans! Spring semester has sprung and already first rolls have kicked off as you might’ve seen. There are a number of important things happening in the buggy and BAA world that we want to tell you about, so let’s dive right in!

Sweepstakes Leadership Update

We might’ve mentioned this at the start of the year, but the fall Chairman (Hunter) has now graduated and the then Assn’t Chair (Joyce) has taken over for the Spring. To fill her place, the first chairman’s meeting included a near unanimous approval of the new Assistant Chair, Willie from Pi Kappa Alpha. The interesting component here is that Willie requested to be allowed to push on Raceday. Under the expectation that additional past sweepstakes members will be on hand during the Races, Willie will remove himself from any judgments regarding the men’s races.

BAA Leadership Terms Ending

We’ve mentioned this before, but a reminder never hurts, this year we will have 3 officers ending their second 2 year term and a few others finishing up their first. After Raceday this year, we will be looking to elect new people to be our: Head ReporterCommunications Lead, and President. At this point, we have a solid team where each person only has a couple responsibilities throughout the year so if you have any interest in what we do behind the scenes, please feel free to reach out and we’d be happy to tell you more!

The BAA only exists thanks to our devoted membership and the few that are willing to put in a little extra for just a couple years, and thanks to these people, our impact has made huge differences in the sport that we all love!

Carnival Registration is now OPEN

That’s right, if you’re headed back for Carnival this year, you can now register HERE. We’ve got another slate of great events for you this year as well as a few surprises in the works for #99! Here are a few highlights for you to whet your appetite:

  • Showcase Panel is back! – Last year’s panel was a great success, and we can’t wait to hear more stories, keep an eye out for when we put out the call!
  • Finals Auction in Person – We tried this last year and, though low attended, was enough fun for those that made it that we’re giving it another go.
  • Tom’s History of Buggy – The perennial favorite, Tom Wood will be back with his fantastic talk with focuses on each of the reunion years.
  • Reunion Races – We are working to coordinate a new race this year between the major reunion years, so if you’re headed back for your 5, 10, or 25th reunion, we would like to hear from you!

 

That’s all for now, more great info to come soon!

Rolls Report: Feb. 17 – Chilly Return to Rolls

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s that time of year we’ve been waiting for since that time last year: spring rolls are here! Sort of.

Wintry weather on Saturday had Buggies in hibernation for one extra day this past weekend. By Sunday the temperatures had warmed just enough to coax 6 teams out to the course. The first roll was in a chilly 21F, but by the end of practices it was a balmy 24F. Our on-scene reporter relayed that it was “quite chilly if you didn’t have a wind breaker.” So, take that as you will.

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