Fernwood Sword Club
This weekend's fencing centred around the Yorkshire Championships. Of those who were eligible to fence, our representatives were Arthur Eakin, Ethan Dakin and Alex Nickerson. Arthur was eligible to fence in the U14 Championships, but decided to go for the Senior Championships for a stronger challenge in his first foray into senior fencing. He won 2 out 4 fights in the first poule, including a 4--5 against university fencer Andrea Charrin. He won 3 out of 4 fights in the second poule to go into the DE as 11th seed. He beat David Bolt of Barnsley 15-4 to set up a L16 fight against 18 year old Archie Broughton of Louth. Arthur made him work hard and was 9-7 up at one stage, going into the break 10-12 down. Unfortunately he then lost the next 3 points to go out. Broughton won a bronze medal and it was an excellent start to Arthur's senior fencing career.
Ethan ploughed through the U14 competition to win gold. Alex Nickerson fenced competitively in his second competition but couldn't quite manage a medal.
In other news, Ed Howlett is the reserve for the GB U20 World Championship team in Salt Lake City. The lesser ranked non Junior World Cup competition again came into play to mean he wasn't eligible for a discretionary pick. As a small consolation his King's College team hammered Leicester University in the L8 of the Championship knockout. Ed dropped just 3 points with 15 hits scored in the foil.