Fernwood Sword Club
Fernwood Sword Club had a super day today at the East Midlands Qualifiers for the British Youth Championships - these will be held on the May Bank Holiday weekend in Sheffield at the EIS. Everyone fenced well and came away with much to be proud of (plus medals!). We have seven fencers going to the BYCs.
James won the U18 boys foil. After winning all his poule fights he beat Freddie Taylor of Touche in Northamptonshire 15-1, following this with a 15-9 win in the final over Dennis Lindebaum of Bakewell. Ed had a bye today, as he won bronze at the BYCs last year, so he was refereeing today.
James's younger brother, Luke Rutherford, won the U16 foil, beating Joel Mason, one of the East Midlands Cadet Winton team, 13-9 in the final. Simon Elliott-Bateman, won a bronze medal and gave Joel a serious fight in the semi final, losing 11-15.
Benedict Murray , won a bronze medal in the U14 boys foil, losing 9-15 in the semi-final to Barnaby Childs of Touche. This was a match notable for a number of red cards for turning the non-sword arm to the front - both fencers are left handed and seemed a bit thrown by having to a fence another lefty. This followed an excellent 15-2 victory by Benedict in L8 against Ethan Platt of Radcliffe Sword.
Elizabeth Flitcroft won a bronze medal in the U12 girls foil, going out 7-10 in the semi-final. The U12 and U14 girls foil was fenced as a single poule and Elizabeth had two great wins in particular over U14 fencers in the poule.
Arthur Eakin won a silver medal in the U12 boys foil. He had a tough poule, with 3 out of the 4 fencers being U14s - and two of them being 3 years older. He beat the only other U12 and lost only 4-5 to one of the fencers who was three years older. Arthur enjoyed a convincing 10-2 win over Roshan Singh of Radcliffe Sword in his semi-final, but lost to the more experienced and one year older Joshua Hemmings in the final.