FENCING UPDATE JAN-MAR 2023
CLUB COMPETITIONS
2021-2022 CLUB FOIL COMPETITION – FINALLY!
On a cold Friday night, at the start of 2023, Gravesham Fencing managed to hold, and complete, the 2021/2022 Club Foil Competition. Although somewhat late, due to the ongoing Covid saga, those competing still managed to provide an evening of excitement through a number of pairings and, even the junior members of the club were drawn into spectating some of the matches, thanks to the ever vocal older members watching on avidly. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell if the underdog, or the top seed is the fan favourite, but a good hit and well won point is always fervently cheered. Eventually the overall winner (or several, if you include Junior, Open and Vets titles!!) was crowned. Joe was crowned overall champion (and junior), with Paul claiming the Top Vet title!
JANUARY 2023 MONTHLY CLUB EPEE COMPETITION
Following hot on the heels of the success of the club Foil competition, the last Tuesday of each month has been designated as the club Epee competition. The last Tuesday in January saw 16 competitors, 4 of whom were juniors, take each other on, for the crown of January 2023 Epee champion and the holding of the prestigious new trophy to accompany a monthly win. In a tough poule of 8 fencers, Joe came out top with 7 wins and Henry a close second with 6 wins. Neither of the two top fencers in that poule had it entirely their own way, with many of their competitors managing to score points off of each of them. The second poule was more evenly spread, with Sandy taking the top spot with 86% of his games won. Steve and Paul followed hot on his heels, with Paul and Phil only marginally behind. Despite the high numbers competing, the poules were completed, but the knockout had to be completed the following Tuesday. Would the tables be turned with a week’s rest?
The following Tuesday the excitement was growing as to how the knockout would pan out. The top 16 and top 8 knockout rounds saw matches won on a first to five hits basis. The semi-final was first to ten, with the final competing to 15 hits. Due to Joe’s absence, Tadek managed the only bye of the top 16, taking him straight into the top 8. Steve was starting to look good for a bye, only for Sofia to arrive with a minute to spare and subsequently knock him out with a 5-3 win! In the top 16, Claudia was knocked out by Will and Jack suffered the same fate at the hands of Dave, with them leaving the competition as the Top U14 girl and Top U16 boy respectively. The four quarter-final matches all finished with scores of 5-2. Tadek’s run had come to an end at hands of Paul, with him leaving the competition here as the Top U14 boy and, Sofia suffered the same fate against Sandy, with her leaving the competition as the Top U16 girl. Will saw Dave fall to his superiority and Phil suffered the same fate against Henry.
Paul fought a very close semi-final against Will, just being edged out 10-9 by the younger man and coach. Sandy fell foul of Henry’s superiority on the day, losing 6-10 to the young gun. With the smaller loss to the opponent, Paul consoled himself with a self-proclaimed Top Vet title – you’ve to take what you can, I guess!
In the final, Henry took an early lead, with Will managing a comeback midway through the game. Henry cottoned on quickly to Will’s tactics and managed to pull away enough, so that the double hits counted for nothing and he retained his lead with 15-11 win overall. A short presentation of the new trophy to the victor, as well as chocolates for the junior competitors and bottle of something to calm the new scorer’s nerves completed a very enjoyable competition over two Tuesdays. Congratulations to all of those who took part.
The next event will be on the last Tuesday in February.
