Henry, as a club member, receiving the trophy from Mark.

After all of the rain, we arrived at Cygnets on the final Tuesday of the month, in drier weather.  However, with half term upon us and many enjoying a Spring getaway, or just some well deserved time off after the Bank Holiday weekend, numbers were slightly lower than usual, but the monthly competition still found itself with a generous eleven fencers all vying for the title…and trophy.

Claudia found herself in the first poule, of five, with the club stalwarts of Dave, Henry, Rohan and Mark for company.  Henry proved to be outstanding on the night, winning all four of his duels.  Car sharers, Dave and Mark were hot on his heels each with a 50% win rate (clearly having discussed tactics on the journey there!).  Rohan and Claudia were not to be outdone and both managed a single win each; Rohan beating Mark and Claudia triumphing over Rohan.

In poule number two, we had six fencers.  Gully was visiting from Blackheath and, as expected, won all five of his matches.  Each fencer from then on won one less match than the fencer above them (it’ll make sense!).  After Gully, with 100% of matches won, came Phil who achieved an 80% win rate (four of his five matches), then came Steve with a 60% win rate (three matches won), which wasn’t bad considering he’d hit a big age milestone the day before (and was either feeling his age, or was busy recuperating from the celebration!), next along was Sofia with a 40% win rate (two matches won) and, newcomer Josh managed a sole victory in his first monthly competition (20% win rate), not at all bad for only being a fencer for a few weeks. Jaina found herself in this tough poule but held her own across each fight, scoring well, with the seeding not reflecting the quality of her fencing.  Her best fight by far was a 5 v 4 loss to Gully, proving to be his toughest duel of the evening. 

With the scorer on form, we managed to get the seedings in place and the tableau drawn up with enough time to complete the event in one evening, with a one-hit direct elimination round.

Gully, Mark, Steve, Phil and Henry were all gifted a bye into the quarter-finals.  Claudia managed to overcome Rohan, Jaina unfortunately lost out to an on-form Dave, and Sofia having to pull out due to illness, saw Josh, in his first competition proceed, by way of a bye, into the quarter-finals.  In a few quick matches the semi-finals were decided.  Gully saw off Claudia to set up a semi-final against Mark, who had beaten Steve.  Dave triumphed over Phil, setting himself up against Henry, who had put paid to Josh’s first run through a competition.

Still with plenty of time to spare, Gully prevailed over Mark, to set himself up against Henry, who had overcome Dave in the second semi-final.  Not needing long for a one-hit final, Gully quickly beat Henry to be crowned the winner.  However, as guests are not permitted to take the trophy, Henry, as the last placed club member, was crowned the May 2024 Club Champion.  Well done to both men and, to everyone else who took part – a great and fun competition again.   

THE FENCING SCOTSMAN…

Sandy enjoying a well-earned break, Christmas 2023, where he sustained his foot injury!

Another update, or rather an addendum to the last one!  My many apologies to Sandy for forgetting him on the previous round-up, especially as we had only discussed his fencing exploits two days previous to the report being written and, many thanks to Steve, for bringing it to my attention.  Well, here goes:

After a lovely break at Christmas 2023 to the dazzling New York City, Sandy returned home with a foot injury, but still managed to compete in the British Veteran’s Fencing Competition at the beginning of January 2024, in Guildford, alongside Kevin, Steve and James.  Being the young pup of the group, he was fighting in Category 2 of the Vet’s, rather than Category 3, like the others. 

There were 48 fencers in Sandy’s category, giving eight poules of 6 fencers.   Sandy found himself in Poule 1 pitted against a Polish, French, German and two other Brits.  Winning one of the five matches and scoring four hits in two of the other four, found Sandy in the lowly position of 39^th for the tableau, which doesn’t quite reflect his scoring throughout the poule.  Up against a Swiss veteran, he managed a comfortable 10 v 6 win, with the Swiss opponent limping off piste, complaining that the loss was down to injury, unaware of Sandy’s own struggles!

He was then up against John Leahey, another Brit, but this time losing out 10 v 3 to the eventual 6^th place finisher.  Not a bad result for someone who was injured and had missed a few training sessions for a holiday (we’re not jealous!).  Well done to all four of the club veterans who competed.  Hopefully, a few more will join you next year for this prestigious event.

2024 – A Round Up…So Far…

Well, what a year it has been so far, and I’m not referring to the fencing!  Alongside house work, the car dying, repairs, the children and work and all the other bits that crop up in-between, the reporting of fencing events has sadly had to take a back seat for a bit, sorry.  However, there have been a few events to date and although I don’t have all the results of those events that we missed and, I can’t provide a commentary because I wasn’t there and too much time has passed on for anyone to remember, I’ll do my best to provide an update and hopefully some information!  Apologies if it’s brief and bigger apologies if I’ve made any errors, am lacking the relevant info, or have missed anybody and/or their event!  So, here goes:

Leon Paul Event, London – early 2024

Friday night stalwart, Kevin, made the awful journey to Leon Paul, back at the beginning of 2024, to represent Gravesham at the Leon Paul event in North London.  Although not a medallist on this occasion he competed well and was pleased with his final placing.

British Veterans Fencing Competition, Guildford – January 2024

In January 2024, Stephen Haley, Kevin Parker and James Fleming-Fido all competed at Guildford in the Vets epee competition.  With all men being in Category 3 of the Vets, it was lucky that they didn’t ‘meet’ during the competition.  With an international field, there were four poules of seven fencers and three poules of six fencers.  Kevin had a tough poule, including against the 3^rd place finisher.  Unable to win a duel, he scored in all but two matches, leaving him as the overall 45^th seed.  Steve had an equally tough poule and despite not winning a match, he did score in each fight, giving him a better indicator and giving him a seeding of 44^th for the tableau.  James fared slightly better, in a poule of six fencers, winning three out of five battles and giving him a seeding of 20^th.  Much to Kevin’s dislike the seeding cast him against James in the first round of the tableau (well, you do prefer to fight someone you don’t see every week!), and James came out the victor 10 v 6.  However, the next fight was to be the end of James run too, as, by coincidence, he too was then knocked out with a 10 v 6 scoreline.  Just like Kevin, Steve was up against someone seeded about 20places higher than him, but he managed to scrape through with a 10 v 9 victory, which pitched him against the number 12 seed for the next round of the tableau.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be and the 12^th seed beat Steve 10 v 1, to retain his 12^th seeding overall.  The final results for the Gravesham boys were as follows: James 25^th, Stephen 32^nd and Kevin 45^th.  Well done all and keep flying the flag for Gravesham!

South East Region Senior Epee, Brighton – March 2024

Having fought the roadworks between J5-J6 on the M25 and then the delight that is the M23, both Phil and Sofia made it Brighton for the South East Region Senior Epee Championships.  Unfortunately, although Steve was down to enter, illness scuppered his chances for attending the event.  Unable to find a comprehensive results list online, I can only delight readers with the news that Phil finished 21^st overall and, get ready to cheer, Sofia finished in 2^nd place with the silver medal to her name.  Well done to both and a special congratulations to Sofia and her podium finish!

Invicta Open, University of Kent – March 2024

With Steve returning from illness, he joined Phil and Kevin for a day down at the University of Kent for the Invicta Epee Open.  Unfortunately, the results of this are not online, so nothing to share, although well done to the lads for keeping Gravesham on the competition map, especially so, as in previous years Joe Joyner, the club vice-captain, has been the champion.  No such luck for the spoils this, year, but hopefully, when baby Albie has given Joe a full night’s sleep, he might well be back to reclaim his title!  Next year’s team might be slightly larger, as I’m sure most took the day to pamper themselves in advance of Dave’s big ‘6-0’ celebrations on the same evening.  It sounded like a fantastic night, but now back to the fencing!

Kent Senior Epee Championships, Canterbury – April 2024

A group of five from Gravesham made their way down the M2 on a lovely Sunday morning for the Kent Senior Epee Championships of 2024.  Again, no online results for this one, so the commentary is going to be short and sweet, but suffice to say Phil finished 8^th (with the rest of the team telling the club at the following session that he was ‘on fire’ the whole day), Steve in 14^th (but was later to come down with a vile cold and take several club sessions off with the illness), Dave was 18^th and Kevin in 23^rd overall.  Sofia held up the female end and saw her come home with a well-deserved 10^th place finish.  Well done to all, but can we keep the team photo more professional for future reference (well done to Dave and Sofia for giving the club some credibility)!

And…..we’re back!  After a couple of months plagued by illness, injury, work, holidays, lack of transport, the start of the club epee and foil annual competitions and the general hullabaloo of life, we finally managed to resurrect the monthly club competition on the last Tuesday in April….yes, 2024!

After a slow start, the numbers gradually increase until we found ourselves with twelve willing participants (and much to the scorer’s delight, two even poules of six fencers!).

Getting quickly down to the task at hand, poule 1 consisted of Helen, Steve, Henry, Stuart, Mark and Paul.  Despite Steve, Mark and Paul also attending to the foil competition, the group maintained a steady flow and found themselves finished with time to spare.  Paul fared particularly well, despite spending the evening competing in foil and refereeing too.  He was joint top in the poule with 80% of matches won, alongside the more rested Henry.  Mark, having also competed in the foil competition, completed the poule happily, having secured 60% of the fights won, alongside Stuart, who was equally as chuffed, as he was fighting left-handed, due to injury.  Helen gave the men a run for their money, securing hits against all of them, but it was Steve who was to walk away disappointed having secured only one win out of five.  He too had also competed in the foil competition and, as time would later tell, he was out of sorts, health-wise, and has since missed sessions due to illness.

Poule 2 was much more closely matched.  The titans of the club, Rob and Joe, were pitched against each other, but both managed to secure four wins out of five.  The upper hand here, must surely go to Joe (Rob will disagree!), who had not only fought half a dozen back-to-back epee duels, but he was also sockless!  Peter secured 60% of his fights won, being particularly chuffed with his wins over Dave and Joe.  Dave and Rohan secured two victories each, but the most unjustified scoreline of the evening must surely be Sofia, who didn’t secure a single win, but fought outstandingly, to secure hits against each player, and almost beating Joe and Rohan in her respective matches.  As they say, sometime the scoreline does not justify the result!

The following Tuesday saw us debating whether or not to hold the Direct Elimination round.  Claudia was still injured, so couldn’t stand in, Steve was still absent with illness and a new injury.  Joe was on daddy duties, Peter was recuperating from an illness and Henry, well, we don’t know!  After a long absent spell, Andrew, and his son Jack stepped in, as did Jaina and the returning Phil.  Rob, Jack and Andrew found themselves with a bye.  Dave beat Rohan 5 v 2, Mark took on Helen and won 5 v 0, Stuart, still left-handed (and surprisingly good at it!) beat Sofia 5 v 2, and Phil (standing in for Steve – but with more hair) was victorious against Jaina with a 5 v 0 scoreline.  The quarter finals were fought to 10 points.  Rob, having had the benefit of a lesson with Will and more rest, beat Dave 10 v 3, Mark fought Jack, and Stuart fought Andrew, however, a long absence from club for both Andrew and Jack, meant that they were both beaten.  The scoreline shows though, that they did themselves proud, with Jack scoring 4 against Mark, and Andrew scoring 6 against Stuart.  In the final match, Phil, grateful for a bit of extra rest, received a bye.

The semi-finals were quickly underway.  Rob, confident as ever, overcame Mark’s onslaught and triumphed 10 v 5, in the first. Whilst, in the second semi-final, with Phil starting to feel the effects of a recent cold, and, his joie de vivre about a recent outside competition 5^th place, dwindling, Stuart took charge, saw his moment and conquered 10 v 4.

With a full crowd spectating in the hall, the final began with Rob taking charge and never looking back, overwhelming a tired Stuart, 15 v 1, in double quick time.  Never mind Stuart, second place, fighting with your non dominant hand is nothing to be upset about.  And, well done to Rob.

Sofia’s third place medal presentation.

On Saturday 2nd March 2024, Sofia attended the Kings LPJS Series in Canterbury, Kent. It was a busy day and the poules were scattered with formidable opponents. Taking a while to warm up to the event, Sofia managed three wins in the poules, with two losses. This led to her being the 8th seed in the Direct Elimination (DE) round and, with a bit of luck, a bye for the first round of the DE. The rest did her the world of good and she won her first DE with an amazing 15-8 scoreline and heading to a showdown in the next DE round with the number 1 seed! Not to be scared off or outdone in a tightly fought match, Sofia battled through and won with a great 15 v 11 scoreline, taking her into the semi-finals. In an extremely closely fought match, Sofia just came undone at the end and was beaten 15-13 by the opposing fencer, maybe showing that the effort of knocking out the number 1 seed, in the previous match, had proved too much. However, it shows that you can beat anyone if you believe in yourself and put your mind to it. Thanks, as always to Coach Will for his support and advice and, he was over the moon with Sofia’s efforts on the day, declaring her third place an “absolutely smashing result”. Well done Sofia, onwards and upwards for the next competition in a couple of weeks …where you can show the guys how it’s done!

SOUTH EAST REGIONAL YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIPS 2024

Having competed in this event last year, Claudia found herself back at The Triangle, Burgess Hill, for another chance to qualify for the British Youth Championships (BYC’s) later in the year.  Despite time off of school during the week’s lead up, due to illness and, having gone up an age group (now Under 16yrs), Claudia was nervous about her chances but, in good spirits.  With the entire family for support and Coach Will there, for the sage advice and helpful pointers, Claudia signed in, completed the warm up and waited for her poule to be announced.

With twenty competitors, there were two poules of seven and a single poule of six.  Claudia found herself in poule 1, mainly competing against other girls from The Royal Tunbridge Wells Fencing Club and The Kings School.  With the first four fights not going in her favour, Claudia battled on to win the last two.  She scored in every match and managed to hold one of her losses to a 4-3 scoreline in the three-minute time allowed.  Her technique was good but it seemed that, on this occasion, the extra year of age of the majority of her opponents showed through. 

Her direct elimination round, as thirteenth seed, saw her paired against twentieth seed, Megan Chen, from the Kings School, Canterbury.  Claudia took an early lead, which she managed to hold after some double hits.  However, it seems that this year, her health was not in her favour and, despite a back injury, she just managed to hold off the Kings student with a 15-11 win. 

After a short break, Claudia was up against the number four seed from Kings, Olya Bilyk.  With a year’s age advantage and a good few years more experience, the older fencer took an early lead.  Not to be outdone, Claudia managed to gain ground as well as land a few double hits to see the scoreline hit 12-6 in the opponent’s favour.  However, the exertion clearly paid its price and, after some medical intervention, it was decided that it was in Claudia’s interest to withdraw from the competition.   

Having finished in thirteenth place, Claudia should be proud of her achievement, especially given her health woes in the lead up to the event.  The top ten were guaranteed a place at the BYC’s, but we keep our fingers crossed that a place may become available for a few more from the Sout East Region, as the other regions finalise their placings.  From her poule Claudia fought the eventual winner and runner-up, as well as the ninth placed finisher.  And, the joint third place finalist was second DE match, so all in all, she fought the best and came out of it with hits to her name and some very promising results.  Well done Claudia.  Hope you feel better soon and keep putting Gravesham Fencing on the map!  We’ll keep our fingers crossed for a BYC place.