MANCHESTER – On Oct. 25, Chop Shop 166, Merrimack High School’s FIRST Robotics Competition team, competed at RiverRage, an annual off-season event hosted at Manchester Memorial High School. RiverRage is the oldest off-season event in FIRST, with this being the 28th year.

“RiverRage was an amazing event, quickly becoming one of my favorites,” said Liam, a senior on Chop Shop 166. “With our performance through qualification matches into the playoffs everything went well. I was able to operate during every match we played. It was a blast. Our alliance was phenomenal putting up the event high score of 203 points. After our final two matches I was so happy. This was the second time we have won an event since I have been on the team, but this is the first time that we were captain of the alliance. This event has made me confident that we will continue to perform to the same, or higher level than we have in the past few years.”

During the first half of the competition Chop Shop played in four qualifying matches, going undefeated. After the qualification matches, Chop Shop ended in third place overall and became the captain of the second alliance.

During the alliance selection process, an alliance captain selects three teams to join their alliance. These teams then compete together through the playoffs. Chop Shop chose teams 1768 (Nashoba Robotics), 501 (Power Knights) and 238 (Crusaders) to join their alliance. During the playoffs, the alliance went undefeated, winning the event.

“It was an honor to drive coach for RiverRage, getting to see all the hard work and long hours the drive team put in at the drive practices finally pay off during our undefeated event run,” said Faith Streeter, a mentor and drive coach on Chop Shop 166. “I enjoyed every minute behind the glass working with this incredible group of students; developing strategies, sharing in their excitement, and celebrating their accomplishments.”

RiverRage is the longest continually running off-season event within FIRST Robotics celebrating their 28th anniversary this year. The event is run by the three teams from the greater Manchester area: 131 (Chaos), 238 (Crusaders), and 501 (PowerKnights). During the event, FRC team 131 from Manchester’s Central High School, hosted a food drive where teams could contribute donations of food and personal hygiene products to the Central High School Food Pantry. Chop Shop donated a total of 285 items, which was the largest donation at the event. Overall, Chaos collected 700 items for the food pantry.

While at the event Chop Shop was awarded The Gracious Professionalism Award, The Gracious Professionalism award is given to teams who demonstrate FIRST core values such as innovation, discovery, impact, inclusion, teamwork and fun.

On Nov. 1-2, Chop Shop will head to Alton Bay to compete in the annual “Battle of the Bay” competition and the “Girls Behind the Glass” event where all girl drive teams compete for the winning trophy.