BLACKHEATH INTER-CLUB COMPETITION MAY 2023
Despite another Tuesday night of traffic hell locally and, the usual search for a car parking space that has dominated our recent Tuesday night arrival, both Blackheath and Gravesham fencingj clubs made it to Cygnet Leisure Centre for a night of fencing, club versus club. We had managed to hire the entire hall, which was just as well as we had three pistes running for the inter-club matches, a piste for free fencing and, Blackheath had managed to amass a lovely number of junior foil members to take on the lovely Theodora from Gravesham’s Friday night junior section.
Once the equipment was set up, we got off to a quick start as there was a lot to fit in, with Gravesham yet again having a busy number of attendees, and Blackheath amassing nine fencers, having not had a venue to practise in, in recent weeks, due to the ongoing academic exams nationally.
At the front end of the hall, the old guard of Steve, Scott and Paul (yes, I know, less of the ‘old’!) got proceedings underway with the foil competition. Blackheath took an early lead, which was enough for them to gain the momentum through the first few fencing rounds, however, Steve’s second match saw him storming away with the points, managing to bring the score back to 34-32 in Blackheath’s favour, with time halting his blistering points accumulation. Unfortunately from then on, the youth of Blackheath took over and they dashed away as 40-33 winners.
Gravesham Foil Team – (L-R) Paul, Scott, Steve – looking very manly and masculine!
Gravesham’s Epee 1 team saw Will and Finn join up with Rob, who had made it, despite it still being the school term in progress and a rush hour accident blocking his main route on the motorway. Rob took Gravesham into an early lead, but Blackheath’s Gully had a monstrous round, finishing it 10-5 in Blackheath’s favour against our Will. Finn was held off by Blackheath’s Henry, with Valeria (Blackheath) making quick work of Will. Rob had a blistering round against Blackheath’s Henry, managing to pull the score back to 25-22, but still in Blackheath’s favour. That three point lead continued to haunt Gravesham, until Finn’s final round against Valeria. The Gravesham points accumulated thick and fast at Finn’s epee, putting us into a 40-39 lead before the final pairing. Rob versus Gully was going to determine the victor here. Despite a good luck kiss from his lucky charm, Rosie, Rob was outfenced by the formidable Gully, the Blackheath player who didn’t lose any of his rounds. Meaning that Gravesham lost 45-42, proving that all those rounds earlier on, with a three point deficit, had come to fruition at the final post. Although, Rob did win the contest for the greatest fleche of the night!
Gravesham Epee 1 – (L-R) Will, Rob, Finn – although I should put a picture of Rosie here, far more beautiful!
Piste 3 saw the Gravesham Epee 2 team take up the reins against another very young looking Blackheath team. Dave, Rohan and Mark were up against Raphael, Andy and Alex. Blackheath obviously needed a bit more of a warm up than Gravesham, because despite Dave giving Gravesham and early lead, the Blackheath boys managed to scrape the second round to a 10-9 lead. From then on the Blackheath team had got used to their surroundings, while the Gravesham team were obviously taking theirs for granted, because once Blackheath took an impressive 15-9 lead after the third fencer, they never looked back, eventually taking the title 45-24.
Gravesham Epee 2 – (L-R) Rohan, Dave, Mark – looking like they’ve barely broken a sweat!
Once the main events were over, there was still time for more fencing, but, given the losses that Gravesham had received the first time round, we quickly put Gravesham Epee 3 and 4 teams into battle, hoping that the lack of respite would at least give us a win later on in the evening. Gravesham Epee 3 was made up of more than 3 fencers, in the hope that fresh legs would tire the three Blackheath bucks who they were up against. However, despite Richard, Claudia and Sofia putting up a brave fight, time got the better of the them and the experience of the Blackheath team shone through despite the number of fights that they had produced that night. Time constraints also meant that Tadek and Jaina were unable to help Gravesham pull back some precious points, with Epee 3 eventually losing 35-13…but we’ll blame the time limitation on losing this one!
Gravesham’s final hope was resting on Epee 4, consisting of Stuart, Peter, Sean and Henry. However, they were up against the Blackheath Epee 1 team, who had already proved their worth against three of our strongest fencers. After an evening of casual fencing, when Peter was put to the test, he came up trumps, blazing the piste against Valeria, helping Epee 4 back to 16-9 deficit. Time put paid to the comeback, but in the next match up, Sean matched Blackheath’s Henry point for point leaving Gravesham still trailing, but 21-14. Unfortunately for Gravesham’s Henry, he was up against the man of the night, Gully from Blackheath. Gully’s prowess in the sport saw him pull lead forward in Blackheath’s favour to 30-20. Stuart was up next and took points from Blackheath’s Henry, helping bridge Gravesham’s deficit to 35-28, however, Valeria and Gully finishing for Blackheath, saw Gravesham have to bow out 45-31.
So, overall victors on the night were Blackheath, with not a single team loss in all five events. However, I think they appreciated getting in some practice, having not had a facility for a few weeks and we certainly enjoyed the different faces and getting everyone involved against different people. Thank you to Steve for arranging everything, to everyone who turned up and was so enthusiastic on the night and, hopefully, we can arrange a visit from a different club soon.
A special mention must also be made to Theodora. Theodora is lovely, young lady who regularly attends our Friday night junior session. She came along on this evening to try her hand at a foil competition against other juniors from Blackheath. Theodora fought foil against four of the Blackheath juniors. Despite not winning a match on the night, Theodora did score points against her much more experienced, older and taller opponents and showed that, with her positive can-do attitude and a regular commitment to training, she has the potential to go far in the sport. She did really well on the night, should be extremely proud of herself as she was given a glowing report by other members of the Gravesham team for her attitude, aptitude and constant smile! Well done Theodora, you did the club proud.
Henry from Blackheath being presented with the trophy by Gravesham Captain, Scott.
