VIII. Gay Games Cologne 2010

Dates of Event
Sunday, 1 August - Friday, 6 August 2010, 8:30 - 20:00 

Venues

• Bowling Arena Spich (BOA), Heinkelstrasse 1, 53844 Troisdorf-Spich (22.2 km from Neumarkt) www.bowling-arena-spich.de 
• 10 Pin Bowling & Event, Sudetenstr. 69, 50354 Huerth (11 km from Neumarkt), www.10pin.de 

Transportation
Bowling Arena Spich is situated directly on motorway A59 (Cologne-Bonn Airport Motorway), exit "Troisdorf-Spich" or by using public transport from Dom/Central Station to Troisdorf Station (40 mins. from Neumarkt, 15 mins. on foot).

The other venue for the bowling event is being held at the 10-pin Bowling and Event Center, located in the Cologne suburb of Hürth. To get to the center by public transportation, take the U-18 from Dom/Hauptbahnhof or Neumarkt (direction Bonn/Brühl) and exit at the Hürth-Hermülheim station. It is a 20 minute ride from Neumarkt to the Hürth-Hermülheim station.

From the train exit and turn left on Hans Böckler Strasse, walking 200 meters to Luxemburger Strasse and crossing that steet. 50 meters beyond that intersection, bear left onto Weidengasse, and walk down that street 300 meters. At the intersection with Severinus Strasse bear right and walk to the intersection with Franz Ebert Strasse. Cross the street and turn left, walking 50 meters to a circle.

At the circle, turn right onto Bonn Strasse. This street winds for about 1 Km through residential neighborhoods, a high school (gymnasium) and a religious community.

Bonn Strasse finally ends at a circle and the intersection with Sudetenstrasse. At the circle cross the street and turn left. The Bowling center is 50 meters from the intersection on the right. The walk will take 20-25 minutes from the train station.

Categories and Divisions of Participation

The bowling tournament will be played in ten-pin format, and divided into two divisions: 
League Division:
A handicap tournament will be played. Handicaps are calculated by taking 90% of an average 200 (90% of the difference of each individual average to 200 and then added to the individual average).  Handicaps for doubles/team tournaments are calculated by adding together individual team members' handicaps.  Tournament is open to bowlers who have an established league or tournament level average. 
All players must use their highest average (with at least 21 games) since July 1, 2008.
They must show proof of certification of this average.
Official certification of handicaps and averages can be presented at the time of registration or later. After you have registered, you can add your average with your username and your password.
Please note that you must enter the same average in each category (singles, doubles, team).
ATTENTION: Please send us your certification from an official Bowling association or league, that shows us your name and your league average with at least 21 games, scanned in via e-mail as an attachment (pdf-document) or via mail by May 31, 2010 at the latest. Please have your league secretary or president sign their name to this certification form.

HANDICAP DIVISIONS    

In the Women Team Competition level, classes will be combined if numbers of teams registered are too low.

Social Division:  
A scratch tournament will be played.  Participation is open to all players with no league or tournament handicap or average. Because of the great number of participants the Men Singles will be divided into three groups of about the same size. The three best ranked player of each of these groups will receive gold, silver and bronze medals. 
 

Participation
All participants may play in only one division, and women only in one double and in one team competition (either women's doubles or mixed doubles and women's team or mixed team). Teams must contain 4 players, optimally 2 doubles per team. Single players will be added to a waiting list, and will later be used to form doubles/teams. 
 

Rules of Play 
The bowling tournaments will be played according to the rules of the Fédération Internationale des Quilleurs (http://www.fiq.org) the World Tenpin Bowling Association (WTBA) (http://www.wtba.ws), and the International Gay Bowling Organization (http://www.igbo.org). 
 

Equipment
All players should bring their own bowling shoes and balls. Shoes can be rent at the venue at low cost. All bowling venues have a pro shop.
 

Services
All bowling venues contain restaurants.
 

First-Aid
First-aid stations and paramedics at all venues. 
 

Tickets 
Entrance is free for all spectators, subject to space available and security regulations.   
 

All information subject to change. All rights reserved. Currently valid stipulations and conditions for sports events and tournaments can be found on our website. If you have any questions, please consult our FAQs. If you don't find the answer there, you may contact us using the e-mail function on our website. If you would like to get the newsletters on a regular base, please feel free to sign in for this service here.