Rifles will travel almost 8,000kms in 2015
Numerous times in sports each year, announcers and media use the terminology of āRoad Warriors.āĀ The CJFL is no different as week to week teams across the country board a bus or in some cases a ferry on route to their destination for a game.
In the Prairies, every year the āRoad Warriorsā title belongs to the Winnipeg Rifles.Ā They consistently travel the most out of any team across the CJFL.
Here in 2015 these Road Warriors will travel approximately 7,926 kilometers and 39 hours for their four road games, to and from Winnipeg.
Hereās the breakdown:
August 15 @ Regina ā 572.8kms ā 5:46 hours (one way)
August 30 @ Saskatoon ā 781.8kms ā 8:02 hours (one way)
October 3 @ Edmonton ā 1,304.2kms ā 13 hours (one way)
October 11 @ Edmonton ā 1,304.2kms ā 13 hours (one way)
For the rookies, traveling across the Prairies will be a fun experience, seeing places they perhaps have never seen.Ā For the veterans however, the travel has become a planning session, just as important as watching game film preparing for an opponent.
Veteran receiver Julian Banares has made these lengthy roadies for the past four seasons and says the essentials are a pillow, two blankets, snacks and a 4L jug of water;
āFor bus travel I’d say 6-8 hours is the time where “bus fatigue” will start to set in for most players.
Traveling to Saskatoon and Regina we would leave in the AM the day before the game and arrive in the afternoon and have the night to rest and be fresh for the game the next day.
The 15-17 hours on a bus sound dreadful and like it would have a worst effect on us but the Rifles have done it in such a way where it was sensible and we wouldn’t be suffering from “bus fatigue”. We pretty much split the Edmonton and Calgary bus ride into halves the first half riding through the night on a Friday and then we would have breakfast and walkthrough in the morning (to shake off the rust). Then continue our bus ride to our Alberta destination for the second portion where we would arrive around 3 in the afternoon which gave us sufficient time to shake off the bus fatigue and be 100% for the upcoming game the next day. All in all the bus rides weren’t so bad because we had sufficient rest before games and they were great for team bonding, especially the longer rides.ā
This season the Rifles will once again have plenty of time to bond, traveling almost 8,000kms in their four road games and spending 39 hours on the bus.Ā They will kick off the season in Regina on August 15th.
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