Hi all, we thought it was probably about time we sent out an update on the Christmas Feather Weight Smash for those of you who are already going, and provided a reminder to those who havent signed up yet to come along. Weve got lots more confirmed than we did when we first announced the event !

Accommodation

There is a fund to help offset Saturday night accommodation costs for teams attending. We realise that featherweight teams are often less well funded than the big heavyweight teams. Were recommending that you stay in the Norwich Travel Inn here Holt Road, Norwich Airport, Norwich, NR6 6JA - 08701 977 291 They do rooms for £44.95 per night which will sleep 2 adults and 2 children (1 Double bed, and 2 singles in each room). This is the closest Travel Inn to the venue - there are others around Norwich to choose from, however these things always work out better if everyone ends up in the same place !

Event Format

Stu and Co at Feather Weights.org are busy working out the finer details of the event format. What is known is that to win the Grand Prize you would have to attend for both days. The winner will be decided on points format based on performance over the weekend - and points mean prizes ! There will also be plenty of sideshow events running alongside the main event, so even if you get knocked out there will be plenty of chances to fight - and you might event find a wildcard round to win your way back into the main competition !

This year as well as our Featherweight arena, which is being upgraded to have a roof and higher side walls well have some custom built arena hazards. Huge pneumatic hammers, and spinning disks of doom for you to try to use tactically in your fights - dont panic, none of them are designed to cause terminal damage, but could help you on points in a fight !

As well as the new arena - this years event will have a serious sound system, and professional lighting - creating an amazing atmosphere in the huge space that is Inspire !

Prizes and Prize Fund

There will be 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes for the main competition, as well as smaller prizes for those winning sideshow competitions. At this point in time were keeping the prize fund secret - however its larger than last year, and the top prize winner should expect to take away more than enough in winnings to build themselves a new robot ! And as for the trophies - soon BattleBots isnt going to be the only place that you can go and win a Giant Nut !

Still not Signed Up ???

If youve still not signed up to the event, theres still time. Visit http://www.featherweights.org/inspirewww.featherweights.org/inspire and fill in an application form. Those attending so far are :

PLF, MiniMoth - the new featherweight from Team Behemoth !, Stiff Breeze, Dark Carrot, Tantrum, Cut-Let, FlowRate, Gianto, RIP, Scorpion JR, Terror Turtle, Rampage 2 and Micro-Maul - theres also more coming from local schools to try and take on the big boys in the arena !

This should be a great event, just before Christmas, with a real Christmas feel to it. The publicity for the event is huge - with adverts in the Robot Wars Club magazine, online and across the Eastern Counties. No doubt well head out into town in Saturday night for an evening of food and drink (lemonade for the under 18s!).

We all look forward to seeing you at the event, and seeing the last event of the 2003 Robot Calendar out with a bang !

Take care

Ed
http://www.stormrobot.comhttp://www.stormrobot.com