August 19, 2009

The Third Annual PMC Baggo Summer Classic

One month later and I’m finally able to write about it. It’s been a busy summer, but I must say I was especially fond of this event. Was it the people? The cool vibe of getting together for charity? The weather?

At first it was about the baggo. I thought, how cool is that? An organized baggo tournament. Then I realized it was for charity. People pay $50 to enter and all the money goes to funding cancer research. I was totally sold.

But then I got there. And I must say, it surpassed every expectation I had in mind.

We started the day promptly at 10:00 with a short but powerful address by the event’s coordinator, Michael Evans. He explained that this day was all about having some fun in memory of a couple of particular friends who had passed away from cancer. He talked about how good it felt to ride in the Pan Mass Challenge and how it felt like he was fighting back for his friends. Then he introduced a young dude (probably a family member or a friend) who played a very 16-year-old Hendrix-esque version of the Star Spangled Banner on his electric guitar.

It all felt very grass routes – ish. Like we were a very small but very authentic group of people. I can see this event growing and growing until some day there will be enough people to fill the whole park. But for this day we were forty teams of two plus maybe an extra fifty or so that just came to linger and watch.

The brackets were pre-determined at the draft the previous Wednesday (teams were paired at random) and once the National Anthem was finished it was a free-for-all to find your partner and your court (many people met their teammates for the first time that day). Bragging rights was really the only prize for the winner… but don’t underestimate the value of bragging rights among this group of people. Emails were sent out for weeks prior to the event hyping up the reign of last year’s champions. I was told that the core group of guys who organized the event started talking trash back in February.

And talking trash must have been easy since most of the guys who run the event work together at Rockland Athletics. The Marshfield Mariner wrote a nice piece on John Medlin, proprietor of Rockland Athletics, PMC rider, and coincidentally the man who knocked me and my partner out of the baggo competition. To read it, click here

Its activities like the PMC Summer Classic and people like John Medlin and Michael Evans that make our area South of Boston such a cool place to live. If you’re contemplating a move into or out of the area, call me at 781.424.9097 or email me at kjardim@jackconway.com and I’ll do whatever I can to help.

Posted by:Kim Herget-Jardim