However, I have gone to the three state Open competitions held so far this year.
The first was in March - there were 13 entries, I had a reasonable pool round (4 wins of 6 bouts), won the first DE bout, then lost in the last 8 (final placing 5th).
The second was in May - 19 entries, and that time I won all of my pool bouts and ended up seeded 1st. Squeaked through the first DE bout 15-14 after a major brain fade, then lost in the last 8 (5th again).
The third was today - 15 entries (including three women, as there weren't enough of them for a separate comp), and again I won all of my pool bouts (7 of them, because they ran 15 fencers in pools of 8 and 7, rather than the logical 3 pools of 5). That got me a bye into the last 8, then I won bouts 15-10, 15-7, and 15-10 in the final to end up ... 1st !
I'm feeling pretty happy (and slightly whiskyed) about that right now.
If I remember correctly that's my first Open comp win in Victoria (think I won B-grade ages ago), and second Open comp win ever (the other was the Scottish Open 2007).
Whee !
Original post on Dreamwidth - there are