Iron Man Tourney

Aidan Cambel · Post by **Aidan Cambel** » Mon Dec 09, 2002 12:42 pm

This past weekend, the Barony of Iron Mountain hosted our annual Magna Faire Arts & Sciences competition and combined it with another event we host, Sword & Mistletoe.

For the last few years, we have "themed" the Magna Faire event, and this years theme was "IRON". As the km for Iron Mountain, I was asked to come up with some "Iron" tourneys. We had The Iron Man Tourney, The Iron Bowl Melee, and our annual Sword and Mistletoe Tourney. I had posted some time back about the event and the tourneys.

To recap, the Sword & Mistletoe Tourney was a standard double elim open weapons style tourney, with the winner being Lord Kaspar Kreiger.

The Iron Bowl Melee was dog ball, but instead of being 5 man teams, all participants were divided in half. On one side we had the elephants (alabama) and the other side were tigers (auburn). The teams were 7 men each. the tigers won.

What I thought was the interesting tourney was our Iron Man Tourney. a 25 foot ring was drawn, and two men went in. They fought per standard SCA rules, with dying and all, but after one died, they got up and reset and fought again. This would continue until one yielded the field. My thought on this tourney was that a good snap shot wouldn't be that big of an advantage, other than making your opponent get up and down. Moving alot would tire you out. I could go into a long list of disadvantages for every fighting style.

It was very interesting. This had the makings of a brutal slugfest. It would be really easy to gain the mentality of "i'll hit so that he just doesn't wantto get hit again." I had several marshals and we were watching for this, as well as severe fatigue.

I was impressed at how well everyone kept there cool and yielded when they felt they had been bested. To yield the field is a humbling experience, and one that I know can not be done easily. Every fighter on that field with the exception of one, yielded with grace and dignity, and left the field with their honor in tact. The one that did not was The Barony of Iron Mountains' Iron Man - Sir Logan Guille.

Congratulations Sir Logan, and thank you for every one that helped make it so much fun.

In Service,
Aidan

Alcyoneus · Post by **Alcyoneus** » Mon Dec 09, 2002 2:05 pm

Interesting idea, I think we will try it. Depending on the number of people, it might be good to have several lists, with a final iron man list after a given time period. Interesting.

hjalmr · Post by **hjalmr** » Mon Dec 09, 2002 2:31 pm

DON'T REMIND ME!

I was planning on coming to this event and fighting well beyond any and all comers. Unfortunately I did not have the $$$$ AND my Baronial Christmas Party was on the same day, so I had to pass on what looked like a neat event.

Sorry I couldn't make it.

(^_^)
Hjalmar of Sognefjord
House Bearkiller
Barony of Grey Niche, Meridies.

"True nobility is not measured by being superior to another, but rather by becoming superior to oneslf!"

[This message has been edited by hjalmr (edited 12-09-2002).]

losthelm · Post by **losthelm** » Mon Dec 09, 2002 2:55 pm

you might want to chang yoru wording on a quick read through it almost sounded like there was a problem with sir logan. but on reading through the second time it was a lot clearer

Aidan Cambel · Post by **Aidan Cambel** » Mon Dec 09, 2002 3:06 pm

There were actually 5 rings going at once to speed things up.

Brandr · Post by **Brandr** » Mon Dec 09, 2002 4:08 pm

Yes but the format for the Iron Man of 1st Round, then hold the Sword & Mistletoe tourney, then the 2nd round of Iron Man, then the Iron Bowl Melee which was a lot of running, then finshing up the Iron Man, really called for alot of endurance.

I liked it. It was worth the trip.

Brandr

Ulrich · Post by **Ulrich** » Mon Dec 09, 2002 4:47 pm

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Aidan Cambel:
 Every fighter on that field with the exception of one, yielded with grace and dignity, and left the field with their honor in tact. The one that did not was The Barony of Iron Mountains' Iron Man - Sir Logan Guille.

Congratulations Sir Logan, and thank you for every one that helped make it so much fun.

In Service,
Aidan<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The other way to lose was to be forced from the circle, not all of us yielded, at least one of us lost by being forced from the circle, still others yielded the field for fear that they might injure their opponent. while it was a very clean and enjoyable tournament, and a well earned victory for Sir Logan, it was not quite as cut and dry as it sounds.

Ulrich

(who inspite of how this post may come across, had quite a good time, and thought the event and fighting were both well run)

Conal · Post by **Conal** » Mon Dec 09, 2002 6:17 pm

I would like to add to what Ulrich said, from what I observed this weekend.

At least one Knight I know did, indeed, yield to his opponent after beating the opponent over and over again. He said he first killed him with head and body shots, then moved on to the leg (followed by kills). Then, he said, he began to realize that he would pretty much have to hurt the guy to get him to yield. When he began plotting ways to do this, he thought, "Whoa, now!" and promptly withdrew from the list. I know the guy he was fighting. He's a nice guy, but can take an amazing amount of punishment. He may be, pound for pound, one of the toughest guys I know. However, I don't think that, judging by his actions, he understood what the concept was supposed to be -- yield when you think the guy has bested you, not when you think you can take no more punishment.

Also, I observed another fighter playing the same sort of "Iron Man" game, trying to outlast his opponent through aerobic losing. In this case, fortunately, the Knight fighting him had as much time, patience, and stamina as he, and lasted him out.

I guess what I'm saying is that this concept can work, but the fighters really have to be taught, probably through repetition, that you're not out there to see if you can take an ass-whipping longer than the guy can dish it out, but rather to prove, over time and through enough fights to be sure, that one fighter has the edge over another.

Can you imagine how one of these guys would have explained it had he won, "Yeah, Mom, this is Bob. I won my first tournament today by losing more than anybody else could stand!"

Still, though, the fighting seemed extensive, well-organized, and fun. Too bad I was in meetings most of the day and missed it. Good job, Aidan and Iron Mountain!

Regards,

Conal

Aidan Cambel · Post by **Aidan Cambel** » Mon Dec 09, 2002 7:18 pm

Thank you all for your kind comments, and I must go back and restate a few things.

Yes, it was not that cut and dry. The rules were - inside the ring - standard SCA rules. And you could not step out of the ring. Now, shield to shiled pressing was allowed, but not "pushing", and I made this point a big cluster and confused many people. I was trying to get a simple point across without coming out and saying it -- yes shield to shield pressing was allowed, but if you found yourself in that position, lower your shield so that your opponents shield comes in contact with the body. Thats not allowed, and keeps you in the ring.

On Sir Conals note -

Sir Robert Glendon of AUk, Society Earl Marshal, drew one determined fighter. Sir Robert repeatedly killed a fighter called "The Badger" (because of his tenacious manner). The Badger would not quit. In a very heart-warming act of chivalry and honor, Sir Robert yielded the field. His statement was that he knew that the only way badger would leave the field is on a stretcher, and he did not want to hurt him. Sir Robert displayed great honor for the safety for his fellow fighters.

The only reason I didn't point out this, and a multitude of other examples I saw during the day, in my original post was that the idea of the tournament was to find the Meridian Iron Man. While only 15 people fought in this tourney, I truly beleive next time there will be many more. I didn't want to distract from Sir Logan's victory, and so I was actually waiting for someone else to bring up the other stories of the day.

After seeing the honor of all the fighters displayed on that field, I am now, more than ever, proud to be Meridian.

In Service,
Aidan

Magnus The Black · Post by **Magnus The Black** » Tue Dec 10, 2002 12:51 am

I am truly sad I missed it. I was oblibated to do our own Newbie Colligum event which unfortunatly was on the same day. I couldn't do both & so stayed to marshal our own event. We had a wonderfull time and raised quite a bit of money for our local churches food bank. We also taught a bunch of new people more about the society and even us "old" folks learned a few things. Maybe next time it wont conflict, I know when I attended this event before it was a blast. Expecially the Pas de Arms with 24 counted blows at the barrier with great swords! Next time perhaps...

broinnfinn · Post by **broinnfinn** » Wed Dec 11, 2002 11:57 am

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Aidan Cambel:
On Sir Conals note -

Sir Robert Glendon of AUk, Society Earl Marshal, drew one determined fighter. Sir Robert repeatedly killed a fighter called "The Badger" (because of his tenacious manner). The Badger would not quit. In a very heart-warming act of chivalry and honor, Sir Robert yielded the field. His statement was that he knew that the only way badger would leave the field is on a stretcher, and he did not want to hurt him. Sir Robert displayed great honor for the safety for his fellow fighters. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yay, Sir Robert! In any tournament, or any other kind of fighting for that matter, he gave us an important lession. It isn't always about winning. It is about leaving the field with your honor intact. It is about respecting your opponent. It is about choosing not to escalate beyond what is reasonable, even when tempted to do so.

We cannot control the behavior of our opponents, we can only control our own. Thanks to Sir Robert for showing us this again (although I expected nothing less :-)

)

Broinnfinn
Axemoor, Meridies

broinnfinn · Post by **broinnfinn** » Wed Dec 11, 2002 1:21 pm

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Aidan Cambel:
On Sir Conals note -

Sir Robert Glendon of AUk, Society Earl Marshal, drew one determined fighter. Sir Robert repeatedly killed a fighter called "The Badger" (because of his tenacious manner). The Badger would not quit. In a very heart-warming act of chivalry and honor, Sir Robert yielded the field. His statement was that he knew that the only way badger would leave the field is on a stretcher, and he did not want to hurt him. Sir Robert displayed great honor for the safety for his fellow fighters. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yay, Sir Robert! In any tournament, or any other kind of fighting for that matter, he gave us an important lession. It isn't always about winning. It is about leaving the field with your honor intact. It is about respecting your opponent. It is about choosing not to escalate beyond what is reasonable, even when tempted to do so.

We cannot control the behavior of our opponents, we can only control our own. Thanks to Sir Robert for showing us this again (although I expected nothing less :-)

)

Broinnfinn
Axemoor, Meridies

Otto von Teich · Post by **Otto von Teich** » Sat Dec 14, 2002 7:52 am

Sounds like a great time Aidan, sorry I missed it. I always liked the idea of a fight to submission, and it sounds like it went pretty well for the most part. I guess a few people will end up being to stubborn to submit, but it sounds like for the most part,the honor system worked well and most folks could determine when they had been bested withen a short time, and bow out with grace,and hopefully a smile on their face..Otto