Editing 2023 Arena 5 Man Race Series

The '''2023 Arena 5 Man Race Series''' was a three-round five-player [[paintball]] competition held at [[Arena Paintball]] in Feilding, New Zealand. Its calendar scheduled tournaments over Easter, King's Birthday and Labour Weekend in April, June and October 2023.[1]

[[Expendables (New Zealand Paintball Team)|Expendables]] won the series championship, having also won the second and final rounds.[5][6]

== Calendar ==
The dates were announced on 6 December 2022.[1]

{| class="wikitable"
! Round !! Event !! Advertised dates
|-
| 1 || [[2023 Arena Paintball Easter Race|Easter Race]] || 8–9 April 2023
|-
| 2 || [[2023 Arena Paintball King's Birthday Race|King's Birthday Race]] || 3–4 June 2023
|-
| 3 || [[2023 Arena Paintball Labour Day Tournament|Labour Day Tournament]] || 21–22 October 2023
|}

== Format ==
The original calendar advertised five-player race games with a four-point mercy rule, a firing-rate limit of 10.5 balls per second and a hopper-and-four-pod ammunition limit.[1]

For the October event, a participant account published by Air Tahiti Nui described ten-minute matches with a three-point mercy rule and eight preliminary matches per team.[5]

== Teams in published draws ==
{| class="wikitable"
! Event !! Teams named in the record
|-
| April draw || Ballistics Unit; Crisis; Defiance; Expendables; Fatality; PB Corp; Rebels.[2]
|-
| June draw || Ballistics Unit; Carcharodons; Crisis; Defiance; Expendables; Fatality.[3]
|-
| October interim standings || Ballistics Unit; Carcharodons; Crisis; CZ Factory; Defiance; Expendables; Fatality; Kaos; Phoenix Tahiti.[4]
|}

The April draw also contained a bye. The October photograph was captioned “Scores as of Saturday morning”; its rankings were interim standings, not final results.[2][4]

== Event results ==
=== Round 2: King's Birthday ===
Expendables won the second round. [[Crisis Paintball Northland]] reported finishing second in the Cup final in its announcement published on 5 June 2023.[6][7]

{| class="wikitable"
! Competition !! Position !! Team
|-
| Cup || 1 || [[Expendables (New Zealand Paintball Team)|Expendables]]
|-
| Cup || 2 || [[Crisis Paintball Northland]]
|}

=== Round 3: Labour Day ===
Nine teams entered the final event. [[Phoenix Tahiti (French Polynesia Paintball Team)|Phoenix Tahiti]] recorded six wins, one draw and one loss in the preliminary stage.[5]

Phoenix Tahiti's semi-final against [[Ballistics Unit (New Zealand Paintball Team)|Ballistics Unit]] finished 3–3 in regulation time, before Ballistics Unit won the deciding point. Expendables subsequently defeated Ballistics Unit 3–0 in the Cup final, while Phoenix Tahiti defeated Carcharodons 3–0 in the third-place match.[5]

{| class="wikitable"
! Competition !! Position !! Team
|-
| Cup || 1 || [[Expendables (New Zealand Paintball Team)|Expendables]]
|-
| Cup || 2 || [[Ballistics Unit (New Zealand Paintball Team)|Ballistics Unit]]
|-
| Cup || 3 || [[Phoenix Tahiti (French Polynesia Paintball Team)|Phoenix Tahiti]]
|-
| Cup || 4 || [[Carcharodons (New Zealand Paintball Team)|Carcharodons]]
|-
| Plate || 2 || [[Crisis Paintball Northland]]
|}

Crisis Paintball Northland confirmed its Plate runner-up finish in its post-event report.[8]

== Series championship ==
Expendables won the overall series championship. The Air Tahiti Nui account distinguished this title from the team's victory at the October tournament.[5]

== See also ==
* [[Arena Paintball]]
* [[2022 Arena 5 Man Race Series]]
* [[2024 Arena Paintball Race Events]]

== References ==
# [https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=515284927291133&type=3 Arena Paintball — 2023 tournament calendar, Facebook, 6 December 2022].
# [https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=594272616059030&type=3 Arena Paintball — April master schedule, Facebook, 7 April 2023].
# [https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=623041429848815&type=3 Arena Paintball — King's Birthday draw, Facebook, 29 May 2023].
# [https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=703696435116647&type=3 Arena Paintball — Scores as of Saturday morning, Facebook, 21 October 2023].
# [https://pf.airtahitinui.com/actualites/ambassador/paintball-ralph-tsing-enchaine-les-bons-resultats Air Tahiti Nui — Paintball : Ralph Tsing enchaine les bons résultats], participant interview covering the final event and series championship.
# [https://www.instagram.com/p/CxHSDmHL7FU/ Ralph Tsing — 2023 NZ Race Series Round 2 first-place report, Instagram, 12 September 2023].
# [https://www.facebook.com/groups/aucklandpaintballclub/posts/2592438174245440/ Crisis Paintball Northland — King's Birthday Cup runner-up announcement, Auckland Paintball Club Facebook group, 5 June 2023].
# [https://www.facebook.com/CrisisPaintballNorthland/posts/799735438618400/ Crisis Paintball Northland — Labour Weekend Plate runner-up report, Facebook].

[[Category:Paintball tournaments in New Zealand]]
[[Category:Paintball tournament results]]
[[Category:2020s in New Zealand paintball]]