Mark (clearly hiding a dodgy new veneers job with the trophy) presenting the trophy to Phil (in either a tired or an arrogant winner pose, we’re not sure) and Claudia presenting the KitKats (the calories and chocolate should perk Phil up!)

With the July monthly club competition falling on a Tuesday night, at the start of the school six-week getaway, there was some worry about numbers attending.  However, we needn’t have been worried with a very healthy thirteen fencers, in attendance, given the time of year.  It was decided to run two poules, one of six and one of seven, with Gully being the guest fencer making up the seven.  With four pistes set up, we got off to a punctual start at 7.30pm and made good progress through the matches on the two poules, even with Paul wanting ‘another minute or two’ between some bouts.  Gully dominated his poule winning five of his six duels being beaten only by Rohan on the night.  Mark came a close second winning all but two matches, losing to Gully and to left hander, Tadek.  Tadek, has shown great promise in the last few weeks, really coming along in his game and being one of the fencers that everyone seems to wince at, when they hear that he is their competitor – with all losers blaming his left-hand game.  Phil, Tadek and Paul all won 3 of their six matches with Gully proving that Tadek is no match for the accomplished fencer, being the only person to beat him 5-0.  Sofia had a slower start to the night, winning only 1 of her six matches in a very difficult poule; was this caused by the delay in getting her equipment to her, or spending too much time on the crochet, now that her exams have passed?  Only time will tell come September and the young lady is back into the school routine.  

In the second poule of six athletes, Steve and Dave were the stand out stars, both winning four of their five bouts.  Richard, Peter and Abs all won 40% of their matches – a stand out night for Richard, especially as he was still trying to overcome a nasty bout of ‘man-thrax’ that had kept him away from the club only the Friday before (his wife was very sympathetic, the children…not so much!).  Claudia struggled, winning only one of her five duels, but blamed her disastrous poule round on the long run that she had taken earlier that day and had subsequently ‘wiped her out’.  No doubt, she won’t make the same mistake for the elimination section next Tuesday!  The following week could see a winner declared extremely quickly because, with a number of fencers already announcing absence there could be a lot of byes.  On the other hand, the Richard/Peter fence off could take a while, as neither wants to win and face Gully in the final 8! 

After a two-week hiatus (the following week, after the poules, we had a glut of ‘guest’ fencers to the session, so it was decided to put the competition on hold and make the most of having some different faces present) we finally concluded the July monthly competition.  Peter and Richard were still arguing over who was going to lose and not have the ignominy of facing Gully in the final 8, Claudia was still gloating about Paul being away and getting a bye, Rohan was gutted to see that Phil had returned from work and would have to fence off for the final 8 round, while Sofia and Mark still couldn’t work out who would be the master out of the two of them, for a position in the final 8.  Thankfully, it wouldn’t be long before we would know who would be the monthly champion. 

Four of the final 16 sixteen matches were byes, with three of the other four matches being very close-run things; all finishing with 5-4 score lines!  The only match to buck the trend was the Tadek versus Abs duel.  Despite a number of the accomplished membership all praising Tadek’s recent form, Abs swiftly and deftly overcame the left-hander with an astonishing 5-1 scoreline.  Abs modestly claimed that the height difference and therefore his reach had won the day.  Peter, much to his disappointment, saw off Richard, to face Gully; Sofia beat Mark to face Claudia; Phil overcame Rohan to face Dave and finally Abs was to duel Steve in the quarterfinals. 

All of the quarterfinals were closely matched with three of the four matches finishing in a 5-4 scoreline and the final match ending 5-3.  Despite his reluctance at getting through and facing Gully, Peter had a great evening, overpowering the guest from Blackheath and beating him on the final point.  Sofia versus Claudia had been a bit of a non-affair, despite the 5-4 score line, as neither lady had wanted to progress and potentially face Gully (come on people, a bit more enthusiasm please, you’ve got to be in it to win it…just look at Peter!)  Dave narrowly missed out to Phil, with neither man able to claim a lack of practise as they had both been away the previous week and, in the final contest Steve beat Abs 5-3.

The semi-final round was a battle to 10 points.  With both matches quite even on paper, Phil and Steve showed the equality in their games with a final score of 10-7 to Phil, setting him up for a father versus son showdown in the final, as Peter, having the night of his life, beat Sofia 10-3. 

After a short break, the fencers faced off for the accolade of both July Monthly Club Competition winner AND prowess in the Hutchin’s household…haven’t we done this before?  Phil took the very early lead and Peter came back just as quickly and overtook his dad on the scoring front.  Back and forth the points went with Peter eventually taking the lead and looking to win it, much to the delight of all the young guns in the room.  Phil, with plenty of support from the old guard, thrust a couple of moves and bought the score level and, a couple of double hits later, we looking at 14 a piece and it all coming down to who could get that winning hit.  Much to the delight of anyone over 50 years old (with or without hair!), Phil proved that age and experience can always overcome the exuberance of youth and claimed a 15-14 victory over his son.  I bet that was a joyous car ride home for the Hutchins Jnr of the family!

Well done to everyone who fought and particularly well done to our July victor, Phil (who not only took home the trophy, but selection of flavoured KitKats exclusively from Japan – we know how to spoil you!)

Next monthly club competition will begin on the final Tuesday in August.  Be there and ready for a 7.30pm start!

LONDON REGION SUMMER 2023 NOVICE AND INTERMEDIATE COMPETITION

After a somewhat fraught journey, the ‘boys’ eventually made it to the check-in with only minutes to spare.  After a quick warm-up they were placed in poules made up of Dave and Kevin and twelve other men for the intermediate epee.  Both men were self-appointed intermediate by way of their past fencing experience both in and out of competition, however, it became clear that this ‘grading’ clearly needs some more guidelines, with far superior fencers duelling in both the novice and intermediate sections, primarily based on a lack of fencing competition results, rather than ability.  With the journey taking its toll on both Dave and Kevin, they fought the first round of poules tentatively and, probably not to the best of their abilities.  However, in the second round of poules both men felt that they had warmed up and did themselves better justice.  The elimination section proved to be both men’s undoing, however, both were elated that at no point did they finish a match without scoring and, in many cases, scoring well against their opponent, even if the win did not go their way.  Overall, Dave finished in eleventh position, with Kevin in 14^th and both men having gained vital experience against a field of men that they would not normally participate against.  Well done guys and keep up the good work for Gravesham! 

As an addendum, regular Gravesham guest fencer, Raphael, finished a very respectable 3^rd place in the Men’s novice epee.  Well done Raphael, now for the Junior Pentathlon Championships in Hungary!