Im April findet das Revolution 2024 statt; das zweite B-Tier Turnier des Jahres und der Swisstour. Emile Barbe und sein Team haben in den vergangenen Jahren ein tolles Turnier auf die Beine gestellt, welches nicht nur mit einem knackigen Kurs glänzt, sondern auch das drumherum kann sich sehen lassen. Wir haben mit Emile gesprochen.

Emile, The Revolution tournament is not only a discgolf tournament what I heard about, what is  making the revolution tournament special?

As always, we try to make it a good experience for the players.
Our main services include:

• A warm room for players to eat lunch, with a nice little garden (in case the weather is warm)
• Homemade lunches
• A challenging but fair course
• On-site dormitories
• A prize ceremony scheduled at 2:30 pm, to give time for the players to get back home.

We always try to optimize the tournament in terms of services and schedule. For the Swiss Championships in 2021, we found a way to fit 3 rounds of disc-golf for 92 players on a 15-hole layout in less than 36 hours.
This year, we’ll try a new format with 2 pools of 36 players, which tee-off on the Front 9 with an interval of 1h30. This way, we can provide an efficient lunch service without altering the pace of play and 3 full rounds of disc-golf for every player. I’m quite confident that this format has a nice future for our tournament.

As you told me earlier, the course or the park will be rebuilt in the autumn this year. Will there also be a new layout?

Absolutely, the main layout started to be outdated with recent changes in the park. Some major trees have fallen in recent years, and half of the course is actually located in a natural reserve, and the park authorities wanted to increase the protection of these areas. The new layout will be located on the upper part of the park, and is still under discussion. This is why we really want to have as many players as possible for the Revolution, to show the authorities that Les Evaux is a place that (still) matters for the swiss disc golf community.
The main layout will be designed to be more beginner friendly, so we can have more exposure. The lower part of the park (natural reserve) will still feature a few holes on the main layout. Also, for the Revolution, it will still be fully accessible for the weekend of the tournament.

How do you deal with it as TD for the revolution and also playing tournaments all over Europe?

It’s something that I progressively got used to. With the tournament being played in a public park, I find it important that the TD doesn’t play and is always reachable. For a lot of players in our club, the Revolution is the main tournament of the season and they really want to play it. For me, and since I travel a lot to play tournaments, I don’t mind taking some time off playing to be the TD in Geneva. I see it as a little payback for all the support I received (and still receive) from the club and swiss disc golf community. Playing a lot of tournaments in Europe also helps me find (and steal) good ideas for the event organisation in Geneva.

Disc Golf in the Romandie is on the rise, new clubs have been founded this and last year, but still not that many courses. What do you think is needed in the Romandie to get more courses?

I think the problem is the same for the whole of Switzerland, and it’s the lack of space. Forests tend to be protected and the rest is used by agriculture. Not every city feature a place like Les Evaux or Pierre-à-Bot. I see the Alps and also the low-altitude skiing stations as a good opportunity for the development of new courses, but it’s going to take time.
With that being said, and without spoiling anything, we might have a new course popping up very soon near Geneva, thanks to one of the new clubs.

Die Anmeldung für das Revolution 2024 ist offen und wird über discgolfmetrix abgewickelt. Wer sich also dieses B-Tier in Genf nicht entgehen lassen möchte, sollte sich rasch registrieren.