General information
EHMS will aim to host the eighth annual open longsword competition on the 20th and 21st of May 2022. This year we will be hosting a total of six competitions. Open Longsword, Women’s Longsword, Longsword Cutting, Open Sabre, Open Katana and Triathlon which combines the Longsword, Cutting and sabre tournaments.
Open Longsword is capped at 72 participants, Sabre at 24 participants, Longsword cutting at 30 and Katana at 12 participants. Womens Longsword does not have a participant cap at the moment.
COVID-19
We are monitoring the COVID-19 situation in Finland. The event will be held according to finnish restrictions in place in May. If you have any symptoms, please do not attend the event. We recommend all participants to be fully vaccinated.
Digital service to make it easier to travel to Finland:
Guidelines for travelling to Finland during the pandemic.
https://raja.fi/en/guidelines-for-border-traffic-during-pandemic
Triathlon
You will automatically take part in the Triathlon if you register for at least one of the Longsword tournaments (women can take part in both) and cutting and sabre. If you take part in both of the Longsword tournaments, only your higher placement will count towards your Triathlon placement.
Rules and gear requirements
Please read through the rules and equipment requirements carefully before the tournament.
Swords for all of the competitions including cutting will be provided by the tournament. You are not allowed to use your own weapons in any of the tournaments.
The structure of the tournament
Equipment requirements
The longsword rules
The sabre rules
The katana rules
The cutting rules
Triathlon scoring
Date, time and schedule
Please note that the following schedule is only preliminary and intended to help you plan your trip. Check the schedule again closer to the event.
Friday 20.5.
Sabre tournament
16.00 Doors Open
17.00 – 21.00. Sabre pools and eliminators. Note that sabre finals will be on saturday evening.
22:00 Doors close
Saturday 21.5.
Longsword Tournaments and cutting
08:00 Doors Open
08:45 – 21:00 Longsword tournaments, katana tournament, cutting, and all finals
22.00 Doors close
Afterparty at Bar Felt Bay (the same place as previous years)
Note that Open Katana will be scheduled to overlap with Womens’ Longsword. It is possible to participate in both, but we cannot guarantee normal rest between matches.
Sunday 22.5.
Free sparring and cutting of any left over tatami from Saturday at EHMS salle.
Venue info
The Sabre tournament will be held at the EHMS salle on Friday. The address is Suvilahdenkatu 10, 00500, Helsinki, and you can reach it by multiple buses and subway from the city center. There is limited parking near the salle.
On Saturday, the main tournament will take place at Ruskeasuon liikuntapuisto. This is the same venue that has hosted the Helsinki Longsword Open the past several years. The address is Ratsastie 10, 00280 Helsinki. The venue can be reached by several bus lines (bus stop Tilkka) and the tram line 10. There is plenty of parking available. Parking is free, but restricted to 4 hours.
Insurance
EHMS will not provide insurance for the event. We highly recommend getting a sports insurance that covers full contact martial arts in a competition setting. Note that Finland does not have a national HEMA association, which is something some insurers may ask about.
First aid
There will be first aid staff on site during the event.
Contact info
You can contact the organisers by email at hlo@ehms.fi or through the Facebook event page.
Facebook event: HLO 2022.
Payment and registration
Registration is open until 13.5.2022. Please register using the link at the bottom of this page!
The pricing of the event is as follows:
Open Longsword: 85 €
Women’s Longsword: 85 €
Longsword Cutting: 40 €
Saber tournament: 45 €
Katana tournament: 35 €
Note that women can compete in both the Women’s and the Open Longsword tournament. If you compete in both Longsword tournaments, the price of the second tournament is 35 €. Open Katana will be scheduled to overlap with Womens’ Longsword. It is possible to participate in both, but we cannot guarantee normal rest between matches.
We will send bills per email based on your registration.
The registration will not be considered confirmed until payment has been received! The bill will have a due date 14 days from the date it is sent. The bills will be sent in batches, so don’t worry if you don’t receive yours right away. Note that if you neglect to pay the bill within a month of issue, you will be dropped from the roster. Please contact us if you have questions regarding billing.
We will not issue refunds after 30.4.2021 without a good reason!
All participants must be at least 18 years old.
Questions? Contact us at hlo@ehms.fi or post a question on the Facebook event page.
Please view the data privacy statement in English or in Finnish.
Registration
Registration is now open! Go to this link to register:
https://hemagon.com/tournament/hlo22/registration
Registration will be done with Hemagon. Note that you need to create a Hemagon account to register.
Open Longsword, open saber and open katana tournaments are currently full. You can still register and will automatically be put on the waiting list.