Sharon Jones reports
This is the first update for the new season following a busy couple of weekends.
Last weekend saw the GB Junior Championships, which were held at Nottingham University with 71 fencers competing in men's foil. James Rutherford had a great start, winning 5 out of his 6 poule matches, losing only to the number 1 ranked junior, Dominic De Almeida. Ed Howlett (fencing for his new London club, ZFW) had a somewhat rockier start, losing 2 of his 5 poule matches 4-5. James had a bye to L32, while Ed dispatched Rhys Barbour from West Fife Fencing Club 15-5. Unfortunately, the boys met each other in L32, with Ed coming out a 15-7 winner. He then fenced Benjamin Urdrzal of Fencers Club London in L16, leading for much of the match and getting some impressive hits on the way. The first break appeared to disrupt his concentration and he failed to keep his momentum, losing 11-15.
Our younger fencers were in action on Saturday at the Leon Paul Junior Series Robin Hood Foil, also at Nottingham University.
Our youngest competitor, Ryan McGahey, was entering his first competition and in the U9 boy's foil managed a 5-4 win against ZFW fencer Ben Keogh in the poules. He completed a 10-9 win over Salle Kiss's Alfred Mead, before going out 3-10 to the first seed, Harry Roberts of Salle Paul, finishing in 8th place.
Tara Duane was also in her first competition and faced a very strong collection of experienced fencers in U11 girls foil. She fenced very keenly in the two poules and went out to the English Youth Championships U11 winner Indigo Zaffino to finish in 7th place.
Ethan Dakin had an excellent day in U11 boys foil. He dropped one fight in 8 poule matches to go into the DEs as 3rd seed. In L16 he beat Malaysian fencer Raeef Raphael 10-4, following that up with a 10-3 win over Yaqub Wagdi of London's Salle Paul. He fenced very well after a slightly shaky start to beat Luca Florea of Russell Swords in Cardiff 10-7 in the semi-final. Having lost to Finn Keen of Fencers Club London in the L16 of the Mini Marathon in Paris earlier this year, Ethan was looking for a win. At 6-8 down, it was looking tough but he showed great resilience to bring it back and finished off the match with a lightning attack to win the final 10-9.
In the U13 boys foil, Arthur Eakin pulled off some excellent wins and had two unfortunate 4-5 losses against the two eventual bronze medallists to give him 5 out of 10 poule wins. Unfortunately he was pitched against sparring partner at Sheffield Buccaneers, Finnian Zaffino in his L32 match and a slightly nervy performance resulted in a 7-10 loss, meaning Arthur had to settle for 18th place. Finally, Lizzie Flitcroft was fencing in the U13 girls foil against another strong contingent of experienced fencers. She fought well and picked up points in nearly all her poule matches, going out in her DE to Malaysian fencer Reyhana Raphael and finishing in 11th place.
Meanwhile, James and Ed were fencing in the Leon Paul Senior Open at the Leon Paul Centre in London, a competition with 66 strong fencers which counts for Junior ranking points. In a tough poule, James won 3 of his 6 fights. Ed had another inconsistent poule performance, unexpectedly losing his first two matches. He then beat the eventual bronze medallist, Douggie Ashby, 5-2 and lost 4-5 to the number 14 senior ranked foilist Harry Bird. He beat French fencer Camille Perrin 5-4, from being 1-4 down and finally beat Scottish junior Duncan Morrison 5-4 from being 2-4 down.
James, ranked 32nd, was unfortunate to meet Ashby in his L64 DE, going out 8-15 and finishing in 37th place. Ed, ranked 36th after the poules, met tall left hander Sebastian Monnet of Salle Boston in London. The last time they met, in the U23 Championships, Ed came out a 15-14 winner and this was again the result. Ed was 10-8 up at the end of the first break and it was 13 all at the end of the 2nd. Having got the 14th hit he then went backwards to concede a hit to make it 14 all. After some cagey manoeuvres Ed took the initiative and got the win. He started slowly in his L16 match against eventual gold medallist Sebastian Pallier, but a flurry of really strong attacks gave some hope - but it was a little late and Ed went out 10-15. However, his good performance over the two competitions means he is a nailed on automatic selection for the first overseas GB junior international squad of the season - an U23 competition in Budapest in November.
What is really important to take from this weekend is that all our fencers had a great time and learned a lot; they gave their all; they made new friends; they were brilliant at supporting each other - as were our parents. We can't ask for more than that.
