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BugabooX · 01-06-2003, 12:12 AM

Was the Duel everything you'd hoped?

edew · 01-06-2003, 08:07 PM

There were some glitches, especially for the gold medal bouts (not the gala money bouts). Other than that, it ran smoothly, was well-attended, and was another fine DITD brought to you by Evan Ranes.

Only 83 fencers in the foil, but it made an A4 classification with 12 A's, more than enough B's and C's and other fencers.

I finished third, losing to Cedric Anen in the semi-finals. I was seeded 31st going into the second day, mainly because I F**ed-up in the pool, going 3-2. I beat the No. 2 seed 15-14, then the No. 15 (I think) 15-13 on account of him stepping off the side of the strip with one foot at the way back end of his side. His "on" foot was just in front of his end line and his "off" foot was outside the lateral boundary and stepping on the reel. Halt, I gain meter, he goes off strip, I get touch.

I then won 15-13 in the quarterfinals before losing to Cedric 15-4 (or 5, I don't recall).

Lots of new A's, as some of the stronger fencers didn't make it into the final 8: Tim Chang and Alex Wood were both knocked out in the round of 16 (as well as the other two A's I knocked out).

The gala was very well run. I think as the years go on, Evan gets the gala event run ever more professionally. This year, we didn't have tables, so there was no snack food for the audience. With 3+ hours of fencing, many were quite hungry near the end.

The women's sabre match between Eileen Grench and Meghan Everett was a tense one. Felicia Zimmermann's match against Anna Garina was also pretty close. The tightest one was the Men's Foil between Sean and Cedric. I had to referee the anchor bout and, frankly, it's quite intense when a $1000 is riding on the line and both look at you asking why you called it such and such.

Cody Mattern rolled over everyone, beating Nicolas Sallembien to earn the right to fence Ingo Grausam. And then took Ingo in 3 bouts. Felicia defeated Allison Rush in three bouts as well in the gala event.

Michael D'Asaro Jr lost to Dmitry Guy in 3-2 in bouts. It was pretty good fencing, but more "old folks" fencing with very little movement beyond the on guard line. I think both can use a little fitness training (if you get my drift).

I also took home $60 in poker winnings the next evening.

Inquartata · 01-07-2003, 01:18 AM

Yes, it was enjoyable as always. I too was wistful for the table arrangement at the exhibition gala----people packed into rows of seats was sort of a buzz-kill ( and all that body heat made things a bit warmish ).

I was disappointed that there were zero equipment vendors this year. A few people who had equipment failed by the armorers were screwed as a consequence, others had to scramble to borrow stuff from strangers. Numbers seemed to be down a bit as well.

But for the most part, another great event. Just not the best of the last few years, IMHO.

Mo · 01-07-2003, 01:25 AM

Did all the events have prize money? Did Women's saber?

edew · 01-07-2003, 01:58 AM

Yes. $500 sponsored by yours truly.

Purple Fencer · 01-07-2003, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Inquartata

I was disappointed that there were zero equipment vendors this year. A few people who had equipment failed by the armorers were screwed as a consequence, others had to scramble to borrow stuff from strangers. Numbers seemed to be down a bit as well.

Well...with 2 NACs so close to Duel, that's to be expected. I'll probably vendor at Duel and LBI once I get sufficient inventory (if everything works out, it could be later this year).

Ingo lost to Cody? I guess Cody was remembering losing the $$$ by one touch a few year back!

a517dogg · 01-07-2003, 12:03 PM

Is there a website for the results?

edew · 01-07-2003, 02:48 PM

Ingo lost to Cody because Ingo hasn't been fencing much (about once a month, he claimed) while Cody has. Cody basically killed everyone along the way. I guess he was pissed that last year, he got knocked out in the round of 64 to not even make it to the second-day round of 32. (I think that was the case. Either that, or he was quickly vanquished on the second day by losing in the initial round of 32.)

Check duelinthedesert.com to see if the results are up. I haven't checked.

veeco · 01-07-2003, 04:59 PM

Yes, Cody was definitely on a roll this weekend. Last year he lost in the 64 to Mike Mehall 15-14 so he did not make it into the second day.

This year he knocked out Gago Demirchian in the top 16 without leaving him any chance, which is a no small feat in itself.

I don't know who could have stopped him (certainly would not have been me, since I lost 15-7 to him). I stayed at a pretty even score (within 1 touch) in the first half of the bout and then he score 7 straight touches to beat me.

In the gala event against Ingo, Ingo must have scored 2 single touches tops.

The epee tournament was really well run, no major glitches there. I thought some of the pools were much stronger than others, but in the end, most of the expected people were in the top 8.

110 people competed in epee this year which was a little less than last year and about the same number than LBI had this year.

One word of advice: if you ever win a DITD beer glass thingy, don't leave it unattended in your hotel room: the hotel maids took mine, thinking it was a normal beer glass from the Flamingo. The one time I have a good result and I don't even get to keep my reward...

Miep · 01-07-2003, 05:23 PM

The same thing happened to my glass Veeco! Evan Ranes had some extras, and was kind enough to give me another one.

edew · 01-07-2003, 06:00 PM

Maybe Evan should get a neater looking prize. Glass flamingo, anyone? Perhaps he should confer with Bonnie Ahern from LBI on getting nice prizes. I think, outside the possible $1000/$500 from the DITD, LBI has -- for the past two years -- the best looking prizes. I know they'll work hard for another good looking one this year as well.

BugabooX · 01-07-2003, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by veeco

The epee tournament was really well run, no major glitches there. I thought some of the pools were much stronger than others, but in the end, most of the expected people were in the top 8...

Well run, yes, unless you happened to be seeded at No. 2 (or No. 63) -- Hansen had to wait about ... let's see, 10:30 to 4:30-ish? ... six hours or so to clarify his position in the top 32 with his first DE bout. Sheesh. What a long, boring wait.

achilleus · 01-07-2003, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BugabooX
Well run, yes, unless you happened to be seeded at No. 2 (or No. 63) -- Hansen had to wait about ... let's see, 10:30 to 4:30-ish? ... six hours or so to clarify his position in the top 32 with his first DE bout. Sheesh. What a long, boring wait.

I didn't think it was well run for exactly that reason.
Although the bout committe gave me a ton of reasons as to why that happened, I still feel day 1 was not run efficiently.

Day 2, and the exhibition bouts were great however.

veeco · 01-07-2003, 06:27 PM

The pools did not end at 10:30. My pool was one of the first ones to be finished and finished at about 11:00 (I was in one of the 6 men pools).

As for the long wait, I agree, there was a long wait. Being in the bottom of the table comes with a territory. I had to wait just as much at LBI this year where I was seeded 2nd coming out of the pools. You can't complain that much about the wait when you have a bye in the first round, though. The key is to stay focused and warm.

The first day was pretty slow and boring, but then again, it was just one round of pools and at most 2 easy bouts if you fenced well in the pools. The second day bouts were done quickly, and I waited only 20-30 minutes at most between bouts, not counting the wait between the semi-final and the final.

veeco · 01-07-2003, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Miep
The same thing happened to my glass Veeco! Evan Ranes had some extras, and was kind enough to give me another one.

Rats! I should've asked him. I thought that there was no way he would have had extra ones...

The only thing I did was to fill out a report with the security of the hotel. So maybe if they find mine (or yours? ;-) I will get it back...

edew · 01-07-2003, 09:48 PM

Given the number of strips, the No. 2 (or 63rd) fencer would have to wait just as long no matter whether they used the format they did, or assigned quadrants (or octants) to each referee.

Let's face it, epee is slower than foil. I was seeded 31st, so I was the second-to-last bout to commence for the foil and I also had a long wait. But it wasn't any longer than if they had assigned fencers from each bracket to a strip.

Epee ended at around 11-ish, when foil's pool bouts started. When the pool bouts ended, the epee DE started. Using a table of 128, they ran approximately 6 bouts per strip (16 strips).

What probably happened was that after the DE from 128 was concluded, they shrunk the number of available strips for the epeeists to 8 strips, thereby engendering another seven bouts per strip.

Each bout is about 20 minutes of total time, approximately. But note that there would be no byes at this stage, and only one fencer comes out of each bracket.

All I know was that I was done fencing and refereeing women's foil and epee starting at around 4PM or so. I had to fence just one bout to go from 64 to 32.

Inquartata · 01-07-2003, 09:57 PM

Well, the veterans events certainly carried no prize monies!

Of course, being held on Sunday, when the gala is held on Saturday night, could have something to do with that. As could the low number of competitors ( but would there be more were there lucre to be had? ).

The women sabre fencers both had to decline the money for purposes of NCAA eligibility, correct?

When last I looked the results had not been posted. It usually takes some time for them to appear. Understandable---I'd want to take a break afterward, too, if I had to plan and run a tournament of that caliber!

edew · 01-07-2003, 10:09 PM

Since I'll be eligible for the veterans next year, I'll suggest that Evan allow vets to "donate" some money to the pot. Winner takes all. If a fencer does not donate, he can't win the pot. Minimum donation could be $5.

Maybe, the more you donate, the better your "handicap". Er..., maybe no handicaps. I'm sure USFA would have a fit if that's suggested.

Inquartata · 01-07-2003, 11:29 PM

Besides, my fencing is enough of a handicap as it is.

Sabresque · 01-07-2003, 11:39 PM

I thought the saturday night finals were fun, though it was some tight seating. Yup, all the women sabrist that won got was a pink flamingo yard ornament... Pretty funny. As soon as I got home I noticed in the USFA newsletter that now you can accept prize money if you want to be in the NCAA as long as it didn't exceed necessary expenses for the tournament.