UPDATE 30th October – Leon Paul Men’s Foil Open
Background
The Leon Paul Fencing Centre has 12 competition pistes. Therefore the maximum entry for an open competition held at the Fencing Centre using the standard format of 1 round of poules followed by DE without progressive entry and not more than one wave of poules is 84 fencers (12×7).
This is why the entry limit for the 2nd Leon Paul Men’s Foil Open was set at 84. This limit was reached on the morning of Friday 17th October (3 days before the official closing date). A waiting list was then set up.
The Problem
Leon Paul received several emails from parents who had failed to enter junior fencers for this event before the entry limit was reached. As the event was nominated for junior points they were concerned that their fencers would miss out on the opportunity to gain junior ranking points and selection to represent Great Britain.
Options
Jon Willis (the Leon Paul competition organiser) spent Friday afternoon and Saturday consulting on the options available.
Following the consultation process there were 3 clear options.
1. Do nothing. The entry limit was set at 84 and displayed together with all the other competition information on 4th April 2014 when the competition was published, some 6 months ago. It is not unreasonable to have expected anyone who needed to enter this competition for specific ranking points to have done so in good time and before the entry limit was reached.
2. Progressive Entry. Give the top 16 ranked fencers exemption from the poules and a bye to the L64 of the direct elimination as per World Cup competition formats. This would allow an extra 16 fencers to enter and not delay the running time of the competition.
3. Run 2 waves of poules. By introducing a second wave of poules this will increase the entry limit without giving anyone exemption from the poules. It will however delay the running time of the competition by approximately 2 hours while the second wave of poules takes place.
Possible Solutions
Option 1 was felt to be a reasonable option due to the information being in the public domain for over 6 months. If a parent or fencer chooses to wait until the last possible moment to enter a competition then they take the chance that the entry limit will be reached before the closing date.
Option 2 The competition format (whilst approved) was not the competition format that was agreed when the competition was selected as a nominated Junior competition. The challenge of the format is partially due to exemptions being based on a fencers senior ranking and the possibility (for example) that a junior fencer could achieve a position of 33rd without having won a fight when another junior could complete a poule and win through 1 round of DE and still finish lower.
Option 3 Whilst all fencers will still get a round of poules there is a subsequent increase in running time of the competition and increased waiting time for those fencers in wave 1. This could have an impact on the aims of the Leon Paul Centre to run efficient and quality events. Should this option be taken Leon Paul will take soundings from the fencers and potentially trial a new system of staggered start times for a UK domestic open.
Conclusion
After careful consideration and the input of all parties and full backing from British Fencing the following conclusions were reached.
The 2nd Leon Paul Men’s Foil Open would run using Option 3 and have 2 waves of poules in the first round.
There will be no late entry fee and entries will be taken up until midnight on Wednesday 29th October.
The poules will be drawn and published (on the Leon Paul Fencing Centre website) on the morning of Thursday 30th October. This will include the poule start time. The first wave of poules will start at 10am and the second wave at 12noon.
There will be no check-in for the competition. Fencers need to be at their pistes, ready to fence, 15mins before the scheduled start time. A no-show will reduce the poule to 6 fencers. A poule will not be allowed to drop below 5 fencers.
There will be an event timetable on the competition webpage of the 2nd Leon Paul Men’s Foil Open so fencers will know exactly what time they need to be at the venue for their fights. Also, live results will be added available online via the Leon Paul Fencing Centre website.
If a fencer knows they are not going to be able to make the competition they must inform Leon Paul as soon as possible. Failure to do so may affect entry into future Leon Paul run competitions.
Any fencer wishing to report a scratch in advance can do so by email or telephone
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 02030 111 330 (between 8am & 5pm)
Useful links
Competition webpage: http://leonpaulfencingcentre.com/comp/1042
Competition Results page: http://leonpaulfencingcentre.com/viewresults?comp_id=1042
Additional Note from British Fencing:
This conclusion is a one-off decision, taken in conjunction with the Competition Organiser. British Fencing fully support any Competition Organisers right to strictly abide by clearly published maximum entry limits, and believe that fencers (or their parents) ultimately are responsible for ensuring entries are made in a timely fashion. Selection of an event as a qualification or ranking event confers no right on any fencer or parent to expect a place is guaranteed or reserved unless otherwise published.
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