There will be three cutting tournaments at Longpoint this year. Which of the three you compete in is completely up to you, though I urge you to honestly evaluate your skill and experience and proceed accordingly. It will be up to you, the participant, to tell the judges which tournament you are competing in as your name is called in the qualifying round, or it will be assumed that you are competing in the main (advanced) tournament.

The three tournaments will be as follows:

Basic Tournament: this tournament will consist of only the qualifying round. However, the qualifying pattern will be different from that of the main tournament. The pattern for the Basic tournament will be similar to the qualifying round last yet, except that there will be no mittlehau cuts. Thus the pattern will be two alternating side diagonal oberhau, followed by two alternating side diagonal unterhau. One or more mittlehau can then be used as a bonus, but it will be a very small bonus only used for tie breaking purposes. This tournament is intended for people who are relatively new to cutting and don’t believe they have a chance at winning either the Advanced or Intermediate tournaments. The winners (1st, 2nd and 3rd place) for this tournament will be calculated and announced as the qualifying round scores are processed.

Intermediate Tournament: this tournament will consist of the qualifying round, with the same pattern as last year (including mittlehau), and a final round for the top four scoring participants. The details for the final round will be posted later, but it will be similar in nature to challenges faced last year during the elimination rounds (no “feats”). This tournament is intended for people who were not quite good enough to make it to the finals last year but otherwise did well.

Advanced (main) Tournament: this is the main Longpoint tournament and will, like last year, consist of one qualifying round, two or three elimination rounds, and one final round. The standards for this tournament will be unlike anything most of you have seen before.

All three tournaments will be counted as part of the Triathlon. However, your placement in each will be weighted accordingly. Placing 1st in the Basic tournament will be weighted lower than placing 1st in the Intermediate tournament, which will in turn be weighted lower than placing 1st in the Advanced tournament. Furthermore, placing 4th, 5th (etc.) in the Advanced tournament may be weighted higher than winning the Basic or Intermediate tournament.