I think you are referring to the description of Track 1 and 2. Seems like you were one of the contestants. Sorry, we didn't mean to label anyone a newbie. It is just that Track 1 and 2 had goals of bringing in newbies. Of course many of the contestants were even experienced hackers. Indeed one of the winners of Track 1 was also the Track 0 winner.
I apologize if the phrasing in the blog post seemed like a put down of contestants' expertise in any of the Tracks.