Sharon Jones reports
Sunday saw the East Midlands British Youth Championships qualifiers at the University of Nottingham. The weather severely affected the programme as the organisers decided to cancel any section where the number of competitors meant that all who entered would automatically qualify for the finals in Sheffield in May. So, Ed qualified for U18 men’s foil and sabre (his new second weapon), as did James Rutherford, who had a bye, thanks to finishing in L8 last year. Luke Rutherford and Simon Elliot Bateman also qualified for U16 men’s foil, as did Julia Higgins in U16 women’s Foil, without having to fence. That left U14 women’s Foil and U12 men’s foil to compete in. Elizabeth Flitcroft and Esme Halling (in her first ever competition) each won 1 fight in their Poule. Esme’s indicator of 0 meant she got a bye into L4 but Elizabeth had to go up against Radcliffe fencer Lucy Greig in L8. Elizabeth matched Lucy point for point for most of the match but just fell short. Meanwhile Esme had to fence one of the two London fencers who had chosen to select East Midlands as their qualifying region.......Esme wasn’t able to compete with the greater experience of the Salle Paul fencer but nonetheless won a bronze medal and qualified for the finals In Sheffield.
Arthur Eakin won all his Poule matches in the U12 men’s foil, with 5-2, 5-0, 5-3, 4-3 wins (the latter in the priority minute against his later opponent in the final). He had a very comfortable 10-4 win in the semi final and faced Finlay Maclachlan of Radcliffe Sword in the final. Arthur had beaten Finlay comfortably in the final East Midlands U12 In February but started off nervily and got caught up in Finlay’s close up remises time after time to find himself 2-8 down at the first break. Some great piste coaching from Ed and Arthur’s fantastic mental strength and intelligent fencing saw him pull back the deficit to end up 9-8 in the third period. He then got caught up again on the close up to drop another point. 9-9. Arthur attacked, he beat Finlay’s blade and got the hit. Finlay defensively stuck his arm out and apparently countered. The Fernwood supporters cheered. The Radcliffe supporters were silent. The referee gave the hit to Finlay. It was really one of those things. The referee was as honest as the day is long and if Arthur had started his comeback a little earlier he wouldn’t have had to rely on the 10th hit. But he not only took his defeat like a true sportsman but fenced magnificently over the day as a whole and thoroughly deserved to qualify for the finals.
He joins regular guest fencer Ethan Dakin, who won the U12 men’s foil Yorkshire BYC qualifiers the previous weekend with a 10-9 victory in the final.