PROVE YOUR MOVES
PROVE YOUR MOVES
The Australian Ninja Open – sponsored by OZIGRIP – is the Ninja Challenge League’s team format, which ran on October 8 following the conclusion of the NCL Adult Finals 2023.
Briefly, the main components of the 2023 Australian Ninja Open are:
So how did it work at the 2023 event ?
While we’d love for everyone to experience the fun of the Australian Ninja Open, time constraints means we have to limit the number of competitors and teams, so athletes will need to earn their place in the competition with their performance in the Ninja Challenge League Adult Finals 2023.
Eligibility for the Australian Ninja Open will be determined by furthest fastest on Stage One only.
The team captains will be the eight Young Adult Finalists who go furthest fastest on Stage One.
The player pool will be the 32 Adult Finalists who go furthest fastest on Stage One.
The 2023 Ninja Draft used a snake order format, with the top ranked captain picking first, then the second rank until all competitors have picked, and then reversing the order, with the last captain to pick in the first round getting the first pick in the second round, and so on.
| TEAM NAME | CAPTAIN | 1ST PICK | 2ND PICK | 3RD PICK | 4TH PICK |
| TEAM HUME | Riley Hume | Saxon Johnstone | Jobie Wright | Jesse Welsh | Simon Martin |
| TEAM HUNT | Riley Hunt | Luke Schmitzer | Kai Somers | Darren Baker | Tory Piperno |
| TEAM AXNICK | Sonny Axnick | Michael Mischefski | Ash Campbell | Keziah Furnell | Yijie Shen |
| TEAM CUTTS | Abbey Cutts | Ashlin Herbert | Mat Redho | Deren Perez | Clem Vertigan |
| TEAM CLEARY | Travis Cleary | Haydyn Reed | Jake Baker | Ricky Hobbs | Jarryd Sutton |
| TEAM LLOYD | Orson Lloyd | Lochie Lydom | Vivek Mishra | Aaron Pietzsch | Paul Reid |
| TEAM HARKNESS | Zoe Harkness | Tye Beadel | Fraser Smith | Jim Delderfield | Steve Axis |
| TEAM WHITBY | Kahri Whitby | Shaun Petter | Kadeem Aarons | Brodan Goepel | Celeste Dixon |
The run order for the seeding round was the reverse of the draft order, with the team with the highest-ranked captain running last.
| Rank | Name | Checkpoint | Time |
| 1 | TEAM CUTTS | FINISH | 1:39.31 |
| 2 | TEAM AXNICK | FINISH | 1:40.21 |
| 3 | TEAM HARKNESS | FINISH | 1:52.63 |
| 4 | TEAM HUNT | FINISH | 2:03.90 |
| 5 | TEAM WHITBY | FINISH | 2:20.78 |
| 6 | TEAM HUME | FINISH | 2:34.77 |
| 7 | TEAM CLEARY | UFO | 2:00.12 |
| 8 | TEAM LLOYD | CLIFF ARM 2 | 1:54.00 |
Based on the results of the Seeding Round, the teams were placed into the following head-to-head matchups for elimination matches.
| Rank | Team | Result | Time |
| 1 | TEAM HUNT | CENTURION DISMOUNT | 3:07.96 |
| 2 | TEAM WHITBY | CENTURION LIP 2 | 2:06.00 |
| Rank | Team | Result | Time |
| 1 | TEAM HARKNESS | X GRAB 3 | 3:31.46 |
| 2 | TEAM HUME | CENTURION LIP 3 | 1:53.25 |
| Rank | Team | Result | Time |
| 1 | TEAM CLEARY | YOYO 3 | 2:56.38 |
| 2 | TEAM AXNICK | YOYO 2 | 3:05.38 |
| Rank | Team | Result | Time |
| 1 | TEAM CUTTS | FINISH | 3:05.18 |
| 2 | TEAM LLOYD | DOOR 2 | 4:55.28 |
The semi-final round saw the teams face off in the following match-ups:
| Rank | Team | Result | Time |
| 1 | TEAM HARKNESS | FINISH | 2:50.47 |
| 2 | TEAM CLEARY | LACHE BAR 2 | 3:35.31 |
| Rank | Team | Result | Time |
| 1 | TEAM CUTTS | FINISH | 3:12.91 |
| 2 | TEAM HUNT | CENTURION 2 | 1:43.31 |
The Championship Round saw the remaining two teams face off in the following order:
| Rank | Team | Result | Time |
| 1 | TEAM CUTTS | FINISH | 5:34.59 |
| 2 | TEAM HARKNESS | THUNDERBOLT 2 | 3:11.45 |
Congratulations to the winning team of the 2023 Australian Ninja Open, Team Cutts, selected by team captain Abbey Cutts.
