Vancouver World Cup - men's & women's epee results

[Fencergrl]

Epee for both men and women was mostly all Canadian and US fencers. I too was disappointed by that. It was more international last year. The sabre and foil fencing was better in that regard.

The planning committee has asked me for feedback.
Comments anyone?

[k9fav]

Hi,
a few suggestions. If you could move the date so it does NOT conflict w/the US summer nationals you would have a much bigger draw. Also, for the more international draw, it would be better to plan to have the event the following week right after Las Vegas World Cup (assuming all dates work out-dont forget to check the European championships date), so that those who make it all the way to LV don't have to spend a fortune flying back to whereever in the world they came from, but instead can fly up to BC right after LV and without a huge jetlag.

Also, for the final matches, if you still have some of them in the UBC gym, try to move the match onto a strip a little further out. The matches on the piste right next to the wall were extremely hard to watch from above in the spectator section. Most of us resorted to standing up and trying to lean over the rail, and we couldnt see any of the coaches (which is half the fun for spectators!) during the final bouts. It was GREAT that you moved the final matches up timewise, and not delayed. It was a long drive back and the border crossing took 45 min. alone.

A question (you dont need to answer it): did you give the foil and saber gold medalist a silver champagne bucket w/champagne as you did the epee gold medalists? I hope so etiquette wise!!! (we did not see that at the medal ceremony for the foil and saber). I don't know how you'd manage it but it would be nice to have all 3 fnals at the chan center, possibly just the gold-silver matches on Sat. night (which would mean the events would end Sat.)?

Again, thank you for all your groups efforts. We really enjoyed having a WC event on this side of the continent, and especially in such a beautiful location.

[Fencergrl]

They are talking about holding the next World Cup in June, so there isn't a conflict with the US Nationals.

Thanks for your comments

[Fencergrl]

Too bad the event was so weak. Men's Epee in particular had nobody there. But that is to be expected in the post-Olympic year.

I found out why there were not a lot of Europeans there for Epee. There was a large European event on around the same time.

[Army Fencer]

European Champs, yes?

[float]

A scheduling conflict with Summer Nationals in the US has NO bearing on the quality of the Vancouver World Cup -- the quantity perhaps, but definitely not the quality.

If the organizers want the Europeans and other top fencers to attend, then they need to schedule events in the Americas in chunks, rather than 1 per weekend from mid-June through mid-July. For example: events on consecutive weekends and then a few weeks off, and then once again have events on consecutive weekends.

In Men's Epee last year, Vancouver was the last WC of the Olympic qualifiers, so of course the Europeans (and others came). This year, the last event which made any difference was Bogota because of it's non-Euro GP status and the team event. To assume the fencers would hang around for the next 2 weeks to fence in Puerto Rico and then travel to Vancouver is naive at best.

[Fencergrl]

Good points.
Keep your comments coming, as I'll be putting together my e-mail c/w your comments at the end of the day.

[geordie]

I saw that the women were ranked in the right order, but the score for the last bouts weren't posted.

By the way Geordie.... your favorite woman epeeist is a real sweetheart. It was really nice of her to translate for the other athletes to ensure they understood what was going on. I saw that and thought she had a lot of class.

Hi Fencergrl,
Thank you very much! Yes, Sherraine is a very special person and that would very much be a part of her nature!

Unfortunately, I finished the press release before the results were posted on the pbinternational website so I had to go on my memory for the release. I decided it was best to NOT guess and get it wrong.

They should be up on the site now!

All the best,
Geordie

www.sherrainemackay.com

[Fencergrl]

I just added an album to my photo gallery of some of the pictures I took at the World Cup in Vancouver.