Sharon Jones reports
2018's competitions ended on a high note as Ed Howlett won a bronze medal in the GB U23 Championships on Saturday. This was held at the Leon Paul Centre in London where Ed regularly does his day time training - and this week he had the chance to spar there with members of the Polish senior squad.
He won his first poule match with GB Junior Kiron Austin 5-1, but followed this up with a surprise 4-5 loss to Lancaster University student Thomas Cann. There then followed a less surprising but, as it turned out, useful 1-5 loss to GB Senior squad fencer Harry Bird of Salle Boston in London. Back to winning ways, Ed then dispatched Dan White of Salle Oxon 5-0 and GB Junior Luca Plastow of Salle Boston 5-1.
Ed was ranked 8th for the DEs. He met Scotland Junior Finlay McAndrew of Salle Holyrood in L32. Ed and Finlay have been meeting each other in competitions since U13 LPJSs and it is always a good fight. Ed took an early lead but Finlay never let him get complacent, with the match finishing 15-12 to Ed. He then faced GB Junior Dawood Khan of Salle Boston in L16. This one was never in doubt. Ed scored 11 points without reply and the match ended 15-3. Ed's next opponent was GB Senior Harry Bird. Having lost to Harry in the poule, Ed had a plan, changing his game from the poule. It worked. He took the lead from the first hit and finished the first period 7-2. Wise words from Harry's two coaches made the second period more difficult but Ed finished it 11-8. The third period was tense and the score reached 14-14. After some edgy footwork from both, Ed fleched from a fairly short distance and there was one green light - Ed's. It was an excellent fight, impeccably refereed by Ben Peggs, one of the top GB seniors and winner last month of the gold medal for men's foil in the Commonwealths. The semi-final was between Ed and his ZFW club mate Dominic De Almeida, the top GB Junior and a GB Senior squad member. The exchanges of hits were rapid and Ed finished the first period 12-14 down. Dom got the 15th hit - it was another excellent fight. Dom went on to win the gold medal match against fellow GB Senior squad member Kamal Minott.
Also fencing on Saturday in the U23 Championships was Fernwood guest fencer and Nottingham University student Serena Patel. She was fencing very well, winning 4 matches in the poule and losing only to fellow GB Juniors Charlotte Fairman 4-5 and Seville Babaeva 3-5, with a very pleasing 5-4 win over fellow GB Junior Alice Campbell. Going into the DEs as 3rd seed, a confident 15-6 win over Aberdeen University student followed in L16. She then faced fellow left hander and GB Junior Heloise Hardie in L8. To say that there were controversies over the refereeing would be an understatement. There were at least 5 surprising decisions, resulting in a disappointing 11-15 loss. Serena finished in 6th place.
Catching up on University matches, James Rutherford's last of the season for Nottingham Trent was a crushing 135 v 68 victory against Leicester University 2nds, the biggest win of the season so far. James starred again in foil, epee and sabre.