The second event in the Yorkshire Youth League took place on Saturday
The second event in the Yorkshire Youth League took place on Saturday in Harrogate. Ryan McGahey (in his second ever competition) was in the U10 men's foil. In a large poule he fought very well to gain 3 wins and 4 defeats. In his L8 match against Sheffield Buccaneers fencer Leo Watson he couldn't quite pull off a win to take him into the medal matches and finished a very respectable 5th. Ethan Dakin was fencing in the U12 men's foil (which he won overall last year). He won all his poule matches 5-0 to go into the DEs as 1st seed. With a bye in L16, He stuttered a little bit in his first DE, going into the break at 4-4. Some useful piste coaching saw breakthrough and a 10-5 win. His semi-final match against Joseph Atkinson followed the same pattern, but this time the match went to full time, though with another win. The final, against Nathan Mooney of Harrogate Fencing Club, saw a more convincing performance, with Ethan clinching a comfortable win to take gold. Finally, Arthur Eakin was competing in the U14 men's foil (which he won in the League's first competition of the year). There were two 5-0 wins and two narrow losses (4-5 and 3-4) in the poule to the last event's bronze medallists, Billy Levick (Sheffield Hallam) and Callum Evans (Salle Scipanovs, in Chester), with the Fernwood coaches left bemused by some of the refereeing decisions. Arthur had a bye in L8 and then (following a fairly neck and neck first period) beat Billy Levick in a convincing 15-7 win. Arthur then faced his Sheffield Buccaneers sparring partner, Finnian Zaffino, in the semi-final. The pair were equal at 7-7 at the break and were both fencing very well. Finn eventually pulled away and, the momentum with him, took the match 15-11 (and went on to win gold).
Sunday saw the East Midlands British Youth Championship qualifiers at Nottingham University. Lizzie Flitcroft, in the U14 girls foil, took one win - 5-1 - in the mixed poule, against Charles Miles-Hayler of Radcliffe Sword, losing 3-5 to Ruby Roberts of Salle Paul in London and 0-5 to Orla Dixon of Radcliffe. She again faced Orla Dixon in the semi-final but this time, fencing very well with nicely timed attacks, took 11 points to her opponent's 15 - a much more closely fought match and earning Lizzie a bronze medal. In the U14 boys foil, Arthur Eakin claimed 3 5-0 victories, losing 1-5 to Josh Hemmings of Radcliffe Sword. As second seed, Arthur received a bye to the semi-final, where he took a routine 15-3 win over left hander Seth Dineen of Radcliffe Sword. He again met Josh Hemmings, a year older and a head taller than Arthur, in the final. Arthur had a plan to contain his opponent's long lunges, counter attacks and prime parries. It was 5-5 going in to the first break. Hemmings took the lead and Arthur was tiring. It looked as if Arthur would catch up, with the lead cut to 2 points, but the gold went to Hemmings with a 15-11 win.
The British University Championships also took place on Sunday, with 115 competing in men's foil. James Rutherford won all of his 5 poule matches, including a 5-3 win over Chris Lennon, silver medallist at last weekend's Merseyside Open. James was ranked 14th for the DEs and, following a bye in L128, beat Ryan Cheung of Bath University, following that up with a win against French fencer Nicholas Collignon of Edinburgh University. His excellent run came to an end in L16, where he lost to Mexican, David Gomez-Tanamachi of Durham University. James finished in an excellent 12th place. Ed Howlett also won all his 5 poule fights, including 2 wins against Italians, and 1 against a Hong Kong fencer, putting him as 5th seed for the DEs. After a bye in L128, Ed beat Jason Pereira of York University 15-3. He was then very frustrated to lose 11-15 to fellow GB squad junior and sparring partner at Sheffield Buccaneers, Alexander Jones of Nottingham University. Ed finished in 17th place.
Finally, Ed played his part in Kings London's comprehensive 135-69 demolishing of their nearest rivals in the Southern 1A league, Hertfordshire University, consolidating Kings' lead at the top of the table. Their domination in foil was such that they scored 20 hits before Hertfordshire could get a single point.