Coming soon!

1st International Open Championship

11th - 17th August 2008 in Apelern near Hannover/ Germany

Review of the First International Open Championship for Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA)

The end of the first International Open has been and gone, we the organisers would like to extend our thanks to all who helped make this a wonderful happening.   The whole event could not have taken place without the generous offer from the TUS Germania Apelern club to use their facilities to the full.  Also many members of the Arts of Mars HEMA Academy gave their valuable time to make sure everything went like clockwork, and also several members of Historica Magica who volunteered to help just for the fun of it.  We had help from the local community in every capacity, from taking people to the restaurant to cleaning up at the end.  All in all a wonderful effort all round with upwards of forty individuals helping in the background, just too many people to mention by name, to make the event what it was.

From All Over The World 
The event, in its first year attracted over a hundred people from twelve countries, included twenty two workshops from fourteen of the best instructors and researchers from around the world, and at the weekend we had a competition unsurpassed before in size and complexity anywhere else in the HEMA world.

The competition included 5 disciplines, which each participant could choose two from the five, including Longsword (Steel), Longsword (Leather Training Sword), Sword and Buckler (Steel), Langes Messer (Steel) and Rapier (Steel).  There was over 350 individual combat bouts in all 5 disciplines, with a total of 39 place people many of which received prizes from the prize pool valued at over 8000 Euro.

This competition was controlled and regulated by a sophisticated set of rules, guided by a comprehensive list of Protocols and organised by a highly organised set of officials.  The officials included  Time Keepers and Score Keepers who made sure things ran smoothly,  though most importantly judged by a dedicated panel of twelve Judges, chosen from around the world,  three to a fight in the early rounds.  In the final rounds we appointed a Referee to each fight and included a judging panel of three.  Generally everything went smoothly and quickly and everything was concluded on time. 

There was ample first aid provided by the German Red Cross organisation, who had many minor cuts and bruises to deal with, fortunately we had only 4 injuries that required hospital treatment. One cut hand from a thrust, two broken fingers and a cut on the head which required only one stitch.  These were all due in some way to equipment failure, so that now we are working in close co-operation with an equipment manufacturer to develop standardised safety equipment which will stand up to the rigours of tournament fighting. 

We are about to embark on an all encompassing discussion on the rules and what we are trying to promote in the fighting qualities of the future participants.  We are also seeking to include the rules for competition used by the actual fighting guilds of the fourteen and fifteen year hundreds, either within the present rules or as a separate competition. 

With the wealth of experience we have now obtained we are at the right point to further promote and develop HEMA competitions, a program we fully intend to actively pursue in the near future.

Sandra Schneider & Colin Richards, September 2008

Monday - Thursday: 22 Workshops of different TOP Instructors

Friday Evening: Opening Ceremony at Rittergut von Hammerstein

Saturday Evening: Restaurant Grünspan Hülsede

The Location, Campsite and Catering Tents