What are the big regional tournaments?

[Craig]

OK.

We all know when the NACs are going to happen now, but I'm more interested in getting some coverage of the larger regional events that are put on throughout the year.

I'd like to have a couple of things:

1. Listing of the large regional events (Like Duel in the Desert, Crescent City Open, etc.) and dates/venues for 2003-2004.

2. Some people who will volunteer to be the "beat reporter" for the event and provide a write up of the event for publication as a news piece on Fencing.Net (and maybe whatisfencing.com).

This can do a couple of things: 1. Will let people know what other big tournaments are available outside of the NAC system and 2. help to raise the profile of those events by having feature stories. (I'd also like to get in touch with the event organizers to get press-release type materials prior to the events.)

Feel free to post info here, PM, or email me at webmaster -at- fencing.net.

Thanks,
Craig

[scarlet_woman156k]

Midwest Section has the annual Remenyik which takes place at Northwestern University. There are usually around 300 fencers over the two-day event.

This year it should be October 18 and 19, NWU, Patten Gym.

[a517dogg]

Pomme de Terre in June sometime, blah blah blah.

Craig, could you make this thread a sticky?

[three_hundred_fifty_five]

Oddly enough, there's a section for "Tournaments and Camps" and a "Calendar" already on this website. I guess people aren't using them or they aren't providing enough information so no one uses them.
This would make a third section. Are you going to centralize all of this Craig?

[Craig]

People aren't using them right now. I'm curious as to what regional coverage will do to help that.

Craig

[Dragonfly]

The CCC is a tremendous event, historically, it has it's roots in the Mardi Gras Tournament, which was done every year. Our lead Maestro here, Dr.H., was the driving force behind the event. Tony B. an Italian foilist of some note also left his mark in New Orleans, but, alas, he passed away.

At one time it was held in anold gym, but it brought in competition from all over the south and New York. One of our fencers, may agree to provide details. I missed this years event, but, I don't think it's a qualifier. You may want to look at our latest USFA magazine for our CCC event. This year hope not to oversleep.

[Wizardly]

Illinois Division - Burton Open

Midwest Section - Heartland Circuit
- Midwest High School Championships
- (be sure to check out the HS tourneys - you might get to show up to one or two)

[Peach]

The Chesapeake Challenge Circuit includes the Susquehanna Open (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, October), the Charm City Classic (Baltimore, MD, December), the Hangover Classic (Virginia, January), and the Cherry Blossom Open (Washington, DC, March). Each of these is a fairly large event, though some are run better than others. Winner of each weapon on points, calculated by a formula, gets a sword.

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Circuit (MARC) last year included the Charm City and the Susquehanna, as well as the Kickoff in Virginia (September), the Laurel Highlands Open in March (Ligonier, PA), the Philadelphia Open (April, outside Philadelphia in PA), and the Mr. Ma Cup (Cinnaminson, NJ). Some events, again, are run better than others; I recommend the Mr. Ma Cup especially.

The Fencing Academy of Philadelphia annual Foil Gala in November is usually an outstanding event with some top-notch foil fencers competing; it's a two day affair with a certain number of lower-classified fencers competing the first day to qualify for the second day, with higher-classed fencers getting a bye to the second day.

The Liberty Cup sabre tournaments at the FC in NYC are not a large regional tournament, exactly. They are very strong sabre tournaments. The women's event (which I usually try to do) often draws the best women sabre fencers from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and one time even some Nellya fencers from Georgia.

The Big Apple Open last year was a strong event, held at the NYAC.

[Swordmaster]

The Poujardieu Memorial held every year in south Texas

[JEC]

The Southwest Sectional Circuit Cup has published the '03-'04 schedule:

South Texas Division - Longhorn Open, October 25 - 26, 2003
Gulf Coast Division - Reserved for November 15 - 16, 2003, host TBA
Ark-La-Miss Division - Rose Condon Memorial, January 31 - February 1, 2004
Oklahoma Division - Oz Parsons Memorial, March 6 - 7, 2004
Louisiana Division - Crescent City Open, March 27 - 28, 2004
North Texas Division - DeGall Memorial, April 17-18, 2004

In addition to these tournaments, the other "major" regional tournaments of this region include the Bobcat Open, Yorrik Open, and the Poujardieu Memorial.

[veeco]

All the major PCS Circuit events' scheduled are good strong tournaments, especially in epee and foil. Sabre is a little less well represented in some, but they are still good to go to if you live in the Pacific Coast area.

The schedule for each weapon can be seen at http://www.pcsfencing.com

[GreenDot]

Just FYI for you midwest fencers, the Remenyik registration form is available on our web page ( here: http://groups.northwestern.edu/fencing/ ) under schedule. We'll have an online registration up sometime, but our webmaster is pretty busy right now so don't know when that will be. As has been said, it is usually quite a strong tournament. You can check the results for the last two years here:
http://totheescrime.org/Illinois/res...nyik_2001.html

and here:
http://totheescrime.org/Illinois/res...nyik_2002.html

The Burton is also a good tournament, though it is a significantly smaller one.
[/shameless plug]

-James

[DanInMI]

I think that this is a good idea Craig.

One of the best in Michigan is "The Excalibur Open"
in Grand Rapids.

Three weapon event, both mixed and womens. Plus a Youth tournament.

No where near the size of Remenyik, but not bad. About 48 fencers in mixed foil last year.

www.wmfa.org

[vegan]

I'll second peaches mentions- all are quite good. I have compeated in most of the marc and ccc events in the last 2-3 years and all are well run (mostly- the one exeption could be finding good refs- which happens sometimes) and well attended (most of the marcs and ccc are 50-70 fencers and at least an A, in mixed (or mens) foil and mixed (or mens) epee anyway). The Kickoff event in Va drew 90 some fencers last year in Foil alone!!! It is the first event of the season in Va every year. Also the big apple series seems to have done pretty well in it's opening year- including a lot of the national team (at least one per event- I lost to Dupree at one this year, lost really by a whole bunch!!) or internationals who live here in NYC- like Ishaenko (sp?) and Khouade (sp?). There are lots of fun events that are not nacs.
Cheers
b.

[Craig]

Thanks. These are helping me build out some ideas for regional coverage.

There was a site based in TX that had some regional fencing coverage. I'm wondering who set that up. If you know, send me a message b/c I want to talk to them about how they had set everything up.

It was a site that had fencing and a bunch of other sports, and had articles by region. The company and site folded with the dot com bomb though. To tell you the truth, I can't remember the domain name anymore.

Craig

[a517dogg]

DOes anybody know anything about the Trekanten Open in Copenhagen this october? I have the website (www.trekanten.org) and i know the dates, but as it's an FIE satellite world cup i'm not positive that the USFA would allow me to compete in it, blah blah.

[esgrimista1]

The San Diego Jr. Invitational, now in its 3rd or 4th year is growing by leaps and bounds, and becoming a must for the jrs. in the region. This year's event was 09/10 Aug. and well attended by fencers from Calif., Hawaii, Nevada, Arizona and Mexico (fencers from Tijuana, Hermosillo and Pueto Vallarta attended and did great).

The judging was excellent, the event well-organized and very wellrun. The weapons check was very complete. The San Diego region deserves a big hurrah for an event well done, and all by volunteers. It would be great to see a full regional (not just Jrs.) done there, as a prelude to see if they would want to do a NAC. The city is beautiful and the region developed enough to handle the event.

A side note - Saoul from The Fencing Post was set up there, which was a boon to the fencers, and for Saoul. He is a super nice guy and acted as armorer to many at no cost.

The San Diego website is: http://www.sandiegofencing.com

[jesup]

Keep the info coming! And add them to the calendar when you know the dates.

One of the things that is nice in the Chess world is the monthly listing of all the tournaments, even most local ones. Several of the ones mentioned by people here (Peach) are in driving range of me, but I didn't know about them.