Rob – The April Monthly Club Competition Winner (no trophy because Mark was absent through illness – sorry Rob)
On an unfamiliarly warm Tuesday, April night, eleven fencers were in attendance for the club monthly competition. Following a standard format of poules (three-minute matches with the first to five hits taking the win); followed by Direct Elimination (‘DE’ – each match of two by three-minute rounds, with the first to ten hits to win, apart from the final which is three by three-minute rounds, with the first to fifteen to win), Rob finally had something to cheer about!
The poule of five raced through their matches with Ben, Rob and Henry taking the spoils, each with a 75% match win rate and, only their indicator scores separating them. Peter and Steve were on the receiving end of the three with Peter only managing one win and, Steve receiving the wooden spoon of the poule.
Poule two had an extra fencer (six in total) and were much more evenly spread, with many of the fights going the whole-time distance. Here, Paul took the spoils with four out of five wins and one draw. Dave and Phil were equal second, winning three matches each and being separated by their indicator, with Richard closely following with two wins, Sofia next with one victory and Mark taking the wooden spoon in his poule.
With time on our side, it was deemed possible to get the DE section of the competition, if not completed, then at least started. With eleven fencers in total; Paul, Dave, Henry, Rob and Ben all revelled in byes and some extra rest in the heat of the hall. Steve put up the fight of the night, but just lost out to Peter, 9-10, whereas Phil versus Mark twinned with Sofia versus Richard and saw Phil and Sofia reach the top eight with 10-6 winning scorelines. After short breaks for some fresh air and liquid sustenance (not alcohol, although some may argue they might fight better!), the quarter finals were underway. Here, Ben beat Sofia 10-4, Rob, still warming up, managed to overcome Phil, 10-6; Dave could not overcome his nemesis, Henry, losing, uncharacteristically quickly, 10-3 and, Paul beat an uncommitted Peter (he didn’t want to fence Henry in the next round either!) 10-3.
Now though, with time quickly running away from us, we just about managed to complete the semifinals before the end of the session. Paul gave a distracted Henry (he’s getting married soon, you know!) a masterclass, beating him 10-5, whereas Rob showed his prowess in this format, beating Ben 10-6, to take on Paul in the final. However, with the heat and time against us, the final, much to a tired and hot Paul’s relief, would have to wait until the following Tuesday. Would Paul come back refreshed and ready to take on a Rob, who regularly tells us that this format is his forte? Would Rob, who is a self-confessed 15-point master be able to overcome all the tricks and techniques that Paul has acquired in his extra years of fencing? Who is your money on?
After a week’s break and with much cooler weather, Paul and Rob warmed up on a relatively small turnout for a Tuesday night. Not wishing to wait around they quickly got down to the business of duelling for the title of April Monthly Club Competition Winner. Rob took an early 3-0 lead, but Paul was having none of it and quickly equalled the score at 3-3. Rob went ahead again, but Paul was quick to equal his opponent’s hits and equalled the score at 4-4. However, after the first three-minute session, Rob had found his mojo and was 7-5 ahead, despite, according to Sandy, “the best hit of the night” coming from Paul. After the first break the first hit was a double, keeping Rob in an 8-6 lead. From here on in is where Rob triumphs and, before we knew it, he’d taken a 12-6 lead. Paul managed another hit, but was unable to keep that form going and, once Rob tasted the lead and, a victory, there was no going back. Two minutes and four seconds into the second three-minute round, Rob pounced and won the match with a 15-7 scoreline. As the self-proclaimed ‘master of the fifteen-point match’, I think we’re finally having to give Rob his due and bow to his greatness…well, for the month of April anyway! Well done, Rob, the April Monthly Club Competition Victor.
Rob – “Paul scored seven points from me? Me? Are you absolutely sure? That’s my record ruined.”
Rob – “So, I was ahead on hits anyway and I got a little cheeky because I knew it was in the bag; so I said to Paul, ‘go on, there I am, see if you can just get one more hit’…and he only did! Best hit of the night according to Sandy… but what does he know about fencing?”