Time between pools and DEs (64+ competitors)

[Sciurus-Rex]

Please try to remember the competitions you've attended of at least 64 competitors in your event. How much time usually passes between your last pool bout and your first direct elimination bout?

If you've experienced a wide range, pick the average and discuss here.

And those of you who keep detailed journals, please speak up. Because best guesses and estimates are pretty wonky -- the brain tends to condense memory time (and sometimes stretch it out) depending on emotional content, value of the memory, and how much attention is actually committed at the time.

[edew]

Just remember that it's not a fair assessment in that you could have your pool finish early and be seeded, say, 2nd, which means you'll be the last person (and possibly the last person after having a bye) to fence. So it is possible to go about 3+ hours between your early to get done pool (say, a pool of six, first flight) to your last-to-start DE bout.

[Araznal]

For 64+, anything under and hour is just not possible. The least I've had to wait is just above an hour.

I remember a specific competition called the Denise O'Connor high school open. It was at Drew University. I left for it around 9:00 AM. There were four other events to be held on the same day. There were around ten directors. Only half of them decent (those good included Jeff Bukantz, so not all bad. Got him for my pool ). The competition was supposed to start around 11:00 AM. I think I had my first bout around 1:00 PM and the pools finished at around 2:00 PM because of various delays. DEs started around 5:00 PM. I drew some one I fence with all the time and he beat me. That was at 5:30. Then, the person I rode with advanced another two rounds. He got knocked out around 6:30. I got home around 8:00 PM. It was the worst tournament I ever went to.

What made it even more horrible was that I think it was just below 64 competitiors.

[Sciurus-Rex]

Just remember that it's not a fair assessment in that you could have your pool finish early and be seeded, say, 2nd, which means ...

Yeah, I know.
Still, ya gather the input you can...

[mrbiggs]

Well, edew's comment is valid, but I voted on the time between the last pool and the first DE. The most well-run events I've gone to with this kind of size have had about an hour in between pools and DEs. So that's what I voted.

[glowstix]

the only tournament i've been to at that size was the divII nac last year. i think it was about an hour between pools and DE's...counting, of course, the whole drama i had to go through with black cards, and getting lost, and not knowing where bout was, then no black card, then black card again, then no black card...

[Boo Boo]

I have voted "about an hour" - this is my average experience for national level events with 64+ competitors (excluding any bye I get etc - then it is often a couple of hours between fencing).

A-grades tend to be very different though - they want to get through the DE fights (after the poules and down to the L64) VERY quickly. It is often only 30 minutes, sometimes a lot less... (maybe 10 or 15 minutes at some very well organised ones).

Boo

[oso97]

At the SSCC events we shoot for a turnaround time of less than 20 minutes between last pool and the first "On-gaurd, ready, Fence!" of the first DE bout. Hit it last season in pretty much every case.

But, you're right, it takes enough good referees and a bout committee who is on their game.

[kalivor]

For 64+, anything under and hour is just not possible. The least I've had to wait is just above an hour.

Why is it not possible? You've clearly never been in the pool that had technical difficulties, and then one of the first DE bouts.

For me, I'd say about an hour is the norm, but in cases where there's one or two pools that significantly lag behind the others (thus avoiding the data-entry bottleneck), the tableau can be posted in under ten minutes, and the DE bouts can start ... well, right then.

[D'Art]

I had to wait about four and a half hours between the poule and the DE once (never been back to the comp since then to find out if it's gotten any better) but other than that, it's usually about three-quarters of an hour.

[Sciurus-Rex]

My worst case was somewhere between three and four hours. It's been a couple of seasons back, so I forget the details. I do remember, however, that it was deep in the heart of Texas. Was supposed to be a major event for the local circuit. They didn't get my business again the following year.

[D'Art]

The one I referred to was either two or three seasons ago, but since then the organisers and venue have changed, so I might consider giving the comp my business again this season, if I can be arsed getting up on a sunday morning at a ridiculous time. In the middle of January.

[Li'l Bebe]

I remember at a fencing camp we did, my coach had us fence for 5 hours in the morning, then sent us home for 3 hours, which gave us just enough time to shower, eat, start a movie and almost drift off to sleep before we had to go back and get on our still sweaty stuff and fence for another 4 hours to simulate the wait between pools and DE. So mean

[telkanuru]

The DEs at New England Tourneys are ready 5 minutes after the last pool is turned in, no matter the competition size, due to the way we run things and En Guard. Actual times vary depending on ref and strip avaliability.