Another year in sports has rolled around and the annual Cootamundra Unisex Touch Carnival is bracing for one of its biggest installments to date.
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With 40 teams already registered for the mixed senior competition, more than 400 players and coaches are expected to participate across the two-day tournament spanning January 12 and January 13.
Competition coordinator Tisha McTavish said the 35th edition had attracted teams from across the region and even interstate.
“It’s going to be big with 40 teams,” McTavish said.
“We’ve got teams travelling from all over the state – Sydney, Wollongong and those areas – plus we’ve got interstate teams from Melbourne too.
“Then locally, we’re also looking at plenty of teams from Coota, Young, Harden and Temora.”
The carnival will likely see three divisions for Saturday’s pool games before splitting into four for Sunday’s final series.
Teams in the A division will be split into A and A reserve depending on their form on Saturday.
“We look like we’ll be having the top teams in A-grade going through to an A-grade finals and the losing teams on Saturday going into an A-reserve repecharge,” McTavish said.
“All teams will get three games on Saturday but only the A grade sides are safe from being knocked out.”
Last year saw Galaxy take out the A-grade title with a 11-5 win over Canberra team Pepperoni in a lop-sided grand final.
The team were dominant in the 34th edition, scoring 54 tries for and conceding just 12 during the preliminary rounds.
Meanwhile, Granite Transformations downed Blue Tongues 10-3 in the B-grade final, while Family Hotel Tigers dug deep to take out the C-grade title after toppling Flip Floppers 5-2 in the decider.
Teams are required to register at 9am on Saturday morning at the official Cootamundra Touch Carnival tent at Nicholson Park.
“We’ll be split across Nicholson and Les Boyd Oval over the weekend,” McTavish said.
“Things kick off at 9am on Saturday and 8am on Sunday.”