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 39th 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 6th 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.