Fernwood Sword Club
This has been another busy fencing weekend (or rather three days) - this time at the British Youth Championships at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, where seven of our fencers were representing the East Midlands.
James Rutherford secured the best result over the weekend, gaining 6th place and a medal in the U18 mens foil on Saturday. He picked up 5 fairly comfortable wins and lost one 4-5, to William Girvin of Northern Ireland. He had a bye in L64 and then two very convincing wins - 15-4 against Andrew Whitton of the North East and 15-5 against Luke Wallace of Northern Ireland. His run came to an end in L8, with a 12-15 defeat to one of a number of very capable Hong Kong fencers, Arcturus Yung of the South East. Meanwhile, Ed Howlett also had 5 wins and a disappointing 3-5 defeat to fellow GB cadet squad member Ben Stekazer of London. Ed also had a bye in L64 but had a very tough run in. He was behind in his L32 match against Hong Kong and Yorkshire fencer Long Ting Yung till 12-12, then pulled away to win 15-12. He then faced Sebastian Pallier of Eastern, one of the top GB juniors. Ed prevailed 15-9 the last time they met in a DE, but the result was the other way round this time, with Pallier winning 15-8 and going on to win the competition. Ed finished 12th. James and Ed finished ahead of the other East Midlands fencers in the competition.
In U16 mens foil, Simon Elliott-Bateman, in his first BYCs (and in the younger year of the category) won 2 and lost 4 of his poule fights. He gave England fencer Liam Tate a scare in his L64 match, matching his scoring for a number of hits, till Tate pulled away to finish a 15-7 winner. Luke Rutherford had a remarkably tough poule, but gave it a good go. He was complimented on his technique at the end by the referee, a senior GB squad fencer. Luke lost in his DE to the competition winner, William Lonsdale. Simon finished 45th and Luke 54th. Simon and Luke finished 1st and 2nd amongst the East Midlands fencers in the competition.
Elizabeth Flitcroft was fencing in her first BYCs in U12 girls foil. Her technique was good and she learned a lot from her poule matches and DE, where she lost to Morgan Allen of Eastern..Elizabeth finished in 51st place.
Meanwhile, in U14 men's foil,Benedict Murray won 2 and lost 4 of his poule fights, in a poule that included the silver and a bronze medallist. He received a bye in L128 and faced 19th Seed Fraser Clarke of North West in L64. Benedict led for most of the match but fell agonisingly short with a 14-15 loss. Benedict finished in 47th place, which was the best East Midlands result in that competition.
Arthur Eakin also in his first BYCs (and in the younger year of the category) won 2 and lost 4 of his poule fights in U12 mens foil, gaining in confidence throughout. Arthur had a bye in L128 and then faced the 19th seed, Michael Ramage of Scotland East. Ramage was a tall, left hander who attacked very confidently. Arthur found it difficult to respond at the start but gradually found himself better able to defend against Ramage's attacks and score hits himself. However, Ramage prevailed and Arthur finished in 48th place, second amongst the East Midlands fencers.
Finally, we received the excellent news that Ed has been selected to fence for England at the 2017 School Games. These will be held at Loughborough University at the end of August. There are only 3 mens foilists in the team and Ed is eligible for selection next year as well.
