They've been running this tournament there every spring for at least several years. The organizer this year teaches a class there, and has for at least 2 years and the use of it as a venue predates that.
As Shadow mentioned the fencing was almost without exception of high caliber. Of the 13 epeeists, only 3 were unclassified, and 2 B's were there. One interesting thing that I discovered that was different from directing at a "standard" tournament. At a standard tournament a director gets used to the tempo and moves and all that are going on. At veterans tournaments (at least at this one) that's MUCH harder. There were several fencers who routinely crack the top finishes at local opens who used the more athletic moves and speeds that I'm used to, but then there were LOTS of other fencers that while they couldn't do some of those moves were every bit as good using a completely different set of tricks. That meant that every bout had a completely different feel, from one bout that was completely fleche driven (both fencers fleching or attempting to stophit fleches, both fencers around 40-43ish age-wise), to a bout where the two fencers stood at fairly close range, did insane amounts of blade work and body english (for lack of a better description) with very little footwork and finished at 2-0.
I believe that Shadow underestimated the ages of the two eldest, I believe their combined age broke 140, not 120, and might have broken 150 (one of them I KNOW is 78).
All in all it was an interesting experience. If I'm available again next year I hope to direct more of these veteran events (we have 2-3/year in New England division). And in another 15 years maybe they'll let me play too.
-B
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"Oh but you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you!"
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