How is this rating difference possible?
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I played in a 1000-1200 tournament here and the guy who won the tournament was over 2000 rating by the time he won it. Of course, those tournaments could take months to finish.
It's a regular thing unfortunately, every tournament that I've played in has had numerous players way above the tournament rating range within a few weeks.
I considered them being a beginner, but thought because they joined in 2014 that probably wasn't the case. I suppose they could have joined and not played until recently. I'm conflicted about this being a regular thing. On the one hand I'd like to know the players in the tournament are around my skill level; on the other hand, not knowing they are a lot better keeps the intimidation factor down. I regularly play people with a much higher rating than myself (1200-1500), even though I know I'm going to lose, because it improves my game and, well, it's just cool to watch really good players play; however, when signing up for a tournament specifically for people that are still "tactically challenged" 
, it can be somewhat discouraging to be completely outplayed by someone you believe is rated 600 points less than they really are. I'm okay getting annihilated, I just like to know that's what I'm volunteering for!
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The tournament is for people rated <1000. I understand our ratings change with every game, but I don't understand how someone goes from 800 to 1454 in the matter of a couple weeks, and if they're that good, why are they signing up for a tournament that includes people far less skillful than themselves? I have no idea how to manipulate a rating but apparently it's possible; could this be what's happening here?