The  Longpoint Triathlon was a first of its kind meta event started in 2013 as a way of measuring a competitors success across multiple related competitions. In the first year, it was solidly Open Longsword, Cutting, and Ringen. Last year, it was Open Longsword, Cutting, and Ringen OR Paired Technique. For 2015, it will be Open Longsword, Cutting, and Paired Technique OR Ringen. What this means is that this is probably the last year that Ringen will be part of the Triathlon. Our intention was to always keep the Longpoint Triathlon, which was originally instituted as a measure of Longsword skill anyway, as a measure of Longsword. 

With the premier of the Paired Technique competition last year, we feel that we can continue our transition this year and make it the 'default' choice for the Triathlon. We will be allowing people to replace Paired Technique with Ringen at the time of registration for this year, if they so choose. 2016 will see Ringen out of the Triathlon.

Why would we do this? Ringen is way more popular than Paired Technique, and is applicable to Longsword. Some of the source material says so! Wrestling is the foundation of all fencing! Well, that's true, but the source material is the foundation of OUR fencing, and replacing Ringen with a test of knowledge of that source material seems more appropriate for a Longsword Triathlon that already includes both Cutting and the Open, which includes opportunities to wrestle.

In reality, our intention is to create more meta events in the future, and have multiple, possibly even overlapping Triathlons. Dagger, Armored Tournament, and Ringen as a triathlon? Sure, why not. Longsword, Rapier, and Sword and Buckler as a Triathlon, covering all of the 'main' events for a year? Yup, that's doable. 

There's no argument that Longsword is our, and a majority of the community's, main focus. We wish to focus our 'main' Triathlon more towards Longsword by enacting this transition, and also grow in the future to offer other options.

 

~Ben Michels and the Longpoint Crew