Friday, March 13, 2009

SXSW Interactive 2009 Extreme Sports Round-up

Each year when our minds turn to SXSW Interactive, one topic inevitably leaps right to the top. That’s right, extreme geek sports. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you picture a large gathering of geeks for a tech conference? Dazzling displays of athleticsm, AMIRITE?!

OK, perhaps not, but still, there’s a surprising variety of sports and games activities planned around and during South by Southwest Interactive.

Climbing: No, not the tech career ladder. Geeks Love Climbing has some rock-scaling planned for Sunday, March 15.

Biking: Enjoy a very literal “mobile social” with the folks from Bike Hugger, who’ve planned a Saturday ride, naturally followed by barbecue and an after-party.

Running: Join the SXSW Runners for morning runs on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. They’ll meet near the Susanna Dickinson House, which is by the Convention Center at 5th and Trinity, at 8 am.

Yoga: Slightly more tranquil but just as exhilirating, morning yoga returns to SXSW with 9 am sessions at the Convention Center on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Bowling: Yep, believe it or not, we’re choosing to forego the obvious puns here. It’s geeks in rented shoes, back for the fourth year of the Avalonstar Bowling Extravaganza on Sunday night. New this year: you can bowl for fun, even without a team.

Billiards: If bowling is a bit too active for you, consider Pool 2.0, a 16-team eight-ball billiards tourney at Buffalo Billiards on Sunday night.

While we stick to such arduous events as the All-Day Panel Sit and the Marathon Bar Crawl, it appears everyone else will be out gettin’ all healthy. Ah well, that’s SXSW!

(Psst...if you’re sticking around for the Music festival and feeling a little...er, splashy, perhaps Splash by Splashwest, a secretive “cannonball” party, will be to your liking.)