This year's Classic Iron Man is Phil Evans, who tallied a record 95 CIM points, but nonetheless managed to win by only a small margin over runner-up Stephen Likevich (83 points). Evans won The Russian Campaign, while Likevich won Anzio, but each scored points in three events in order to stake their claims as top Iron Man, and survived a stiff challenge from David
Metzger, our first five-event scorer. Metzger took advantage of this year's expansion of the number of eligible events to bolster his challenge, but suffered from low turnout in most of those events. Evans placed sixth in the1999 CIM competition, but this year managed to do slightly better in his favorite events.

The reigning champ, Doug James, was blanked, but the 1999 Classics Iron Man, Bruno Sinigaglio, finished in sixth place, scoring in two major CIM events. Perennial contender, Robert Frisby, joined Sinigaglio as the only two entrants to make the Top Twelve in all three years of CIM Championship play.

The addition of the family game classic, Tyranno Ex, was seized upon by Verity Hitchings, who became the first of her gender to make the CIM Top Twelve. Meanwhile, the addition of Football Strategy to the event list allowed perennial Wood Gatherer Bruce Reiff to again make the Top Twelve, earning points from three quick-playing events which left him well short of adding the CIM Plaque to his long list of conquests.

In those CIM events which were CIM events in the previous year, attendance was fairly stable (rising nearly 2 per cent)--better than convention turnout as a whole. However, this growth was slower than growth seen last year--and this year three CIM events fell by the wayside (for lack of a GM in the case of Mustangs). The largest growth (>60%) was seen in Waterloo, Win, Place & Show and Wooden Ships & Iron Men. Meanwhile, substantial drops (>35%) occurred in attendance at Candidate, Panzerblitz and Dinosaurs of the Lost World.

This year's change in the scoring format (multi-event bonus points) boosted Frisby and Reiff by about four places each and moved Metzger up one place, but did not effect Evans' margin of victory. The tie-breaker rules kicked into effect to give Frisby sole possession of seventh place by virtue of having scored in more events than had Hitchings. The points ceiling rule kicked into effect for The Russian Campaign, but the six-point shortfall did not stop Evans from claiming the CIM Wood. Afrika Korps grew substantially, but remained under the point ceiling. In general, the format enhancements seemed to serve their purpose without creating additional problems.

With 38 events run this year under CIM, earning a spot on the Top Twelve list required acumen in a variety of Classics. This year 125 entrants scored CIM points (and plenty of good players went scoreless). Nineteen entrants scored CIM points in two or more events. The CIM entrants listed below proved themselves to be this year's toughest to beat.

Rank	Name	Points	Events Scored	2000 Rank
1st	Phil Evans	95	TRC, AFK, B81
2nd	Stephen Likevich	83	ANZ, WAT, B81	8th Tie
3rd	David Metzger	68	812, 776 AHD, A5A, WZQ
4th	Lane Newbury	62	AFK
5th	John Clarke	49	WAT
6th	Bruno Sinigaglio	46	B81, FSE	7th
7th	Robert Frisby	45	FSE, PGG, 776	2nd
8th	Verity Hitchings	45	TYX, WZQ
9th	Bruce Reiff	43	FBS, WPS, CDT	8th Tie
10th	Marty Musella	42	WAT, PZB
11th	Steve Dickson	41	RSK, DLW
12th	Jonathan Lockwood	40	AFK, NVW