Enter the Guildford Event via Sport80>>>
Venue
Guildford Spectrum
Parkway
Guildford
Surrey
GU1 1UP
Dates
Epee Saturday 31st July
Foil and Sabre Sunday 1st August
Fees
Entries are being taken on Sport:80 https://bf.sport80.com. If anyone is struggling using this platform to enter the competition, please email Lucy and I’ll do my best to help you.
- Single weapon: £40
- Two weapons: £65
- Three weapons: £80
- Closing date is Wednesday 30th June
Late Entries
The cut-off date for late entries via Sport80 is 24 July at a cost of £60 for a single weapon, £85 for 2 weapons and £100 for three weapons. Any entries taken after that will be solely at the organisers’ discretion.
Due to the complexity of delivering this competition under regulations which limit numbers and capacities, we urge you to enter as soon as possible.
Thank you!
Covid Precautions
Face masks must be worn at all times when not fencing. Depending on the situation we may be using the entry to the sports hall directly from the car park.
To protect us all, the committee are asking that all fencers produce proof of either, double vaccination, or a recent lateral flow test. Although this is additional to BF Covid guideline measures, the committee feels that our demographic would feel more comfortable to know that this check was being carried out on competitors and referees. If restrictions have eased considerably by the time of competition, this extra measure may be reviewed.
Format
Two rounds of pools (Mixed Ages) followed by DE in Age Groups. Check in will be at 9am, although some categories will start later. See below.
Team Event
In the event that a team competition can take place, it will be run as a fun event for all standards. Fencers are welcome to compete even if they are not fencing in the individual event.
It is our intention to run team events in each weapon, but this all depends on how many competitors there are in the individual competition and the restrictions in place at the time. It may be that not every weapon will have time to run a team event, but we will do our best .
Team Format
Mixed handicapped teams of 3. The handicap will be based on both gender and category of each fencer. Teams can be made up of 3 fencers and must contain at least 1 of each gender.
Team Entry
Entries will be made on the day of the competition and will cost £10 per person. Entry may be made on a team basis, or individually in which case we will try to make up the required teams.
Covid Situation
We are looking at 2 possible scenarios, the first is that restrictions are lifted after 19th July and we can run the competition close to normal, with a few minor restrictions, such as mask wearing when not actually fencing. Alternatively we may have to run the competition under the current restrictions, which will limit the number of pistes we have available.
We believe that it is very possible that restrictions will be lifted on 19th July, but must be able to cope with the possibility that they remain. We do not yet know what the entry numbers will be and hence which age groups will need to be combined for the poules.
For these reasons we cannot give a definitive timetable at present. We hope to have this as soon as entries have closed. Check-in should not be before 9am, and some of the events will not start before 1pm.
Selection
Here is a word from Graham Paul, Chair of Selectors, explaining what will be happening this year regarding selection for the World Championships…
Apologies for late details on World selection criteria for Guildford, but we have left the final decision as long as possible due to not being able to predict the current covid situation or the level of participation making it suitable for selection or even economically viable.
On the latter point we have still reserved the right for full cancellation should it result in an unacceptable loss. It has always been our intention to run Guildford as a selection event to encourage entry and try and ensure that it is economically viable.
We know that all of us have been away from fencing for far too long and even for the vast majority of us who have, been allowed back into a club once a week, relatively little fencing has taken place. However given that we have all many years of fencing under our belts perhaps the main factor affecting our performance will be how fit and active we have been during lockdown.
Not being able to compete for so long, no matter how fit we are there is bound to be some ring rust. And for fencers who have still not even been allowed back in a club yet this is likely to affect them even more.
It was the Selectors recent intention to award the winners of Guildford automatic selection for the Worlds with the other three places being discretionary. However we now realise that this system gives fencers who have been able to train longer an unfair advantage so a compromise has been agreed.
We will now revert to our original selection system of using the best two results from three events. Those being: last years BVF Championships; last years Guildford; and this years Guildford, to automatically select the first two places. The 3rd & 4th places will be at the selectors complete discretion irrespective of points, as will the two Team places. Fencers who have moved up a category this year will be placed in the ranking table also at the selectors discretion.
Gaining points at Guildford will still be important and could be the deciding factor for selection but the pre-covid events together with selectors discretion will be carrying more weight.
I apologise once more for the lateness in issuing these details but I hope you appreciate the difficulties involved and our efforts to be as fair and non-discriminatory as is possible under the circumstances.
Graham