As Matt mentioned it was a tournament that gave equal weight to cuts and thrusts anywhere on a person and I would agree with anyone who suggests that the way that I won was in no small part to me being given the chance to effectively use a rapier like a really long sabre. I'd like to think that I did use good technique and timing and distance were all as important but to think of myself as some sort of good rapierist would be somewhat of a lie! I got better the more fights I had and I think the element of surprise helped me too
All in all, bloody good fun from my point of view 
I think anyone looking at my fights in the Rapier tournament or overall win with some trepidation with specific regard to how rapier should be done is welcome to do so and I would feel quite literally zero consternation about it. Anyone suggesting that I didn't deserve to win or wasn't a good swordsman however, better be able to back that up with some rather compelling evidence! And for the record, no-one has so it's all good
It's probably also worth mentioning that I'd never picked up a buckler before any of those fights either. I think it did make a fair difference given that I managed to catch about 40% of thrusts or strikes with it and thank god Matt Galas gave me some advice about how to use one or I'd have continued to try use it as some sort of crude breast plate
