A Fine day's competition.
Sunday, May 1st 2016 was a beautiful sunny spring day.
Perfect weather for the Second Annual Spring Regional Parasol Duelling Competition.
We had done two demos during the weekend and so we had a pretty good crowd of spectators for the competition.
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| Katherine Lingwood, Cindy Bedford, Stewart MacPhee, Cali Kyhn, Karen Siemens and Deanne Robbins. Photo by Grant Zelych |
I work at a vendor's table at the Expo along with several of the regular duelists from Calgary and earlier in the weekend we had been so busy that we actually missed one of the demos!
Luckily the other members of Madame Saffron's leapt into the breach and conducted an excellent demo. Makes me proud indeed to see our members taking up the reins and elegantly demonstrating our great sport. Please join me in a hearty well done!
On Sunday, not taking any chances, we made sure to head for the Duelling Ground with lots of time to spare. When we got to the site there were already several duelists and quite a crowd of spectators gathered. With ten duelists signed up it took a few minutes to get things organized.
Our Judge and record keeper for the event was the ever efficient Baroness Daniela Fawkes (aka Dana Teh). Her first official act was to read a "Welcome and Admonition" from Madame Saffron Taxus-Hemlock, who unfortunately could not attend this year's competition.
Here is a video of this stirring start to the Spring Regionals!
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| Duelling in the Spring Sunshine! Cindy Bedford vs Kyra McDonald Photo by Karlo Keet |
The Regionals also include new duelists some of whom have never dueled in competition before, as well as more experienced Ladies.
Again this year we saw how everyone has continued to improve their duelling figures. There are also clearly developing styles and strategies which are fascinating to watch in action.
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| Karen Seimens and Deanne Robins Photo by Karlo Keet |
The format of this years competition was to be a true Round Robin where everyone duels everyone else during the course of the competition. Wins were to be awarded 2 points and a draw was awarded 1 point. It quickly became apparent that even running two duels at once, with 10 competitors it would take too long to run the competition in the time we had available.
So after the first three rounds had been fought it was decided to drop the two lowest scoring duelists off the list.
In one of those serendipitous events from which traditions are born, when the first Ladies were told that they had been eliminated, Raven Hawthorne asked all the remaining competitors: "Ladies can we give them a Twirl!"
A beautiful, and elegant way to show the respect due their fellow competitors!
The competition was stiff and the Ladies demonstrated their prowess with great speed and poise. Here is a selection of photos that should give you a good feel for the competition.
The intensity of these duelists is very apparent here!
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| Raven Hawthorne and Sarafina Kain Photo by Grant Zelych |
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| Karen Seimens Photo by Grant Zelych |
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| Audra Balion Photo by Karlo Keet |
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| Raven Hawthorne Photo by Karlo Keet |
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| Cindy Bedford Photo by Karlo Keet |
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| Tamara Horne Photo by Karlo Keet |
The duelling continued with the lowest scoring ladies being dropped from the list after each round.
Running two duels simultaneously took a bit of getting used to! In order to prevent confusion only one of the Doctors would do the count but loud enough for both pairs of duelists to hear. This allowed the competition to proceed quickly but smoothly.
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| Raven Hawthorne and Katherine Lingwood Photo by Karlo Keet |
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| Nicole Baker and Kyra McDonald Photo by Karlo Keet |
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| Cindy Bedford and Audra Balion Photo by Karlo Keet |
Finally after a further grueling 6 rounds of duelling, three Ladies emerged victorious!
Each was awarded one of these magnificent ribbons created for this event by Raven Hawthorne.
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| Winner's Ribbons by Raven Hawthorne |
Here are the winners of the 2016 Spring Regional Parasol Duelling Competition being presented their winner's ribbons by the Baroness! |
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| First Place Ribbon to Audra Balion Photo by Karlo Keet |
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| Second Place Raven Hawthorne Photo by Karlo Keet |
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| Third Place: Nicole Baker Who had never dueled in competition before! Photo by Karlo Keet |
Congratulations Ladies!
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| 2016 Spring Regionals Winners L to R: Audra Balion 1st place Nicole Baker 3rd place Raven Hawthorne 2nd place |
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| Photo by Grant Zelych |
Thank you also to my fellow Doctor, Dr Johann Portsmouth Adler (aka Stewart MacPhee.) for his sharp eye and strong voice!
As always thanks to the wonderful photographers that make us look so good!
Karlo Keet of Catstar Images
Grant Zelych
and our intrepid videographer Alex Norrington.
Keep your sightglass full, your firebox trimmed, and your water iced.
KJ
For more information and to find out more about this great sport go to:
Madame Saffron Hemlock’s Parasol Duelling League for Steampunk Ladies
Click here for information on the history and development of Parasol Duelling
or click the Parasol Duelling tag.
The Rules for Parasol Duelling are here.
