Tournament Format:
One round of pools with direct elimination and no fence-off for third place. Tournament will be run in accordance with all USFA rules. Women are awarded Chesapeake Challenge Circuit points for their place in the mixed event. http://www.va-usfa.org/chesapeake/system.html
Food:
No food vendor available onsite. Local eateries within walking distance of the venue.
Directions:
Off I-95/495 (Capital Beltway), take Exit 25 (Rt 1 Baltimore Ave, College Park). Follow Rt 1 south 2.5 miles to the University of Maryland campus. The Reckord Armory is on the right of US Route 1. http://www.parking.umd.edu/themap/de...tion=E5&zoom=3
Mixed Foil and Epee are already A Rated based on preregistration. Need to get some more As for Mixed Sabre. The first four As that preregister for the Mixed events get a free entry! Sabre still has three openings and foil one.
Master intaglio printmaker and fine artist William Fleishell III of Washington, DC has created an engraving for the 2006 Cherry Blossom Open. The engraving depicts fencers in a Arcadian landscape near the National Tidal Basin. It is hand engraved using tools, materials and methods that have not changed in over 500 years; since the times of Durer and Goltzius. Framed prints made from a limited hand pressing will be given to the top four finishers in each event plus the top women finishers in the mixed events. There will also be gift certificates from Absolute Fencing for the same place finishers.
So who's all coming to this thing? I'm already preregged for mixed open epee.
You and 75 others. (myself included) Plus, there's a lot of regional names that are missing as yet, but are expected to show. Gonna be biiiiiig. Let's see if they (we) crack the 100.
How far is the venue from the Washington airport? (If I fly in, will I need to rent a car or can I manage with cabs?)
It's actually closer to BWI. Not to mention easier access approaching from that side of DC.
Not that familiar with the mass transportation system down there, so I'll have to abdicate to someone more local.
http://www.wmata.com/ is the DC mass transportation website. From here, you can plan any trip.
Additionally, if you fly into BWI (probably a 40-60 dollar increase in ticket price then from Dulles, though this is roughly the same cost as transportation from Dulles to UMCP), you can take the blue line towards Largo Town Center, and transfer off at the Metro Center to go onto the Redline. From there, just follow the signs.
Well if you can fly Southwest Airlines BWI is gonna be cheaper. Reagan National is probably the easiest in terms of getting from the airport to UMCP as its a (relativly) easy metro.
There is I believe a shuttle/bus from BWI to College Park. You can also take the MARC train from BWI to DC and then metro.
So all this is to say you don't need to cab vs private car, however between the two you are probably better renting a car. But you can take mass transit instead
What's the "real" world again? I don't think I can see it from my window
Originally Posted by RITFencing 
