Hurry, take me to the Mardi Gras…
The Duel in the Downtown is at an end. For details on the event, including standings, you can check Woody’s blog here, here, and here. I assisted with the set up on Friday night, after epee, mostly delivering equipment from the club to the venue and helping Sally transfer it up to the hospitality suite. Much of the setup work had been done by Kathy, Trevor, and Woody while we were all playing pokey-pokey. I spent Saturday with the fam, then woke my sorry ass up this morning at 6:15am and made the hour drive into Greensboro to help with the running and then the tear-down of the last day of the event. Things were a teeny bit more exciting than that, though.
To answer the burning question, no it wasn’t my glove. I didn’t fence today. The Duel in the Downtown is a Veteran’s event and I am chronologically challenged in that respect (read I’m not old enough … Veteran’s are 40 and over). Woody goes into some detail in the links I gave up at the top, but the long and the short of it is that a unbroken blade pierced a nearly new glove. This should not happen. It was sort of a freakish combination of a whole bunch of factors and honestly I think many of us were surprised there was an injury at all, let alone one necessitating both stitches and a tetanus shot. Chris is OK, though he’ll likely be on a break from fencing for a bit. It should be noted that Cameron and Henri responded to the incident with the utmost skill and professionalism. Chris was in very good hands and very well cared for until his wife could get there to take him to an urgent care center. It’s good to have a nurse and a certified first responder in the club.
The day started off with King Cake, which Cameron graciously brought to share. Sadly, no one got the baby (though it was found later on the floor … we fencers are a wild bunch). We worried initially that Woody had eaten the baby. We in fact called him baby eater the rest of the day. Even Woody himself was initially concerned, responding, “There were nuts in the cake, right?” I suggested that be the signature quote for the event. As I mentioned we did find the baby later. Poor baby. The rest of the day, before and after Chris’ accident, went great and the tear-down went very speedily. We finished off the day at Elizabeth’s, where delicious Italian eats were had.
It was a great weekend. I really love hanging out with those people.