Successful Intraclub tournament for Fencing

Edinburgh University Fencing Club’s annual intraclub competition, the Master and Mistress of Arms, was held on the 9th. The aim of the competition is to find the fencer who is best all-round with all three swords. The competition works by having two fencers have a match, and if they fence different weapons, they fence with the one that neither usually fence with. The final is fenced with a match in each weapon, with the fencer with the most overall points winning.

It was a fun day with some rather intense matches, with some of the fencers experiencing weapons they hadn’t touched in years (or ever). The men’s final was between Myles Matteson and Dave McBrian, while the women’s was between Alice Robinson and Jenny Wong, who was only a beginner last year. Myles and Alice were the two who ultimately prevailed, bringing home Carter’s Sword and the Kelly Price Cup respectively.

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Ladies Fencing Still Unbeaten

The Fencing Ladies team has made it into the premier league. The important match took place on Wednesday the 14th against Loughborough, and was one of the closest the ladies had ever fenced. Foil was the starting weapon, and after a courageous fight the ladies lost by 11 points. Sabre was next, with the ladies claiming back the lead by winning by 13 points. Once again the win depended on the epee team, and they didn’t disappoint. The 39 points needed to achieve the win were achieved before the last fencer had her bout. It was a nerve-wracking match, with points see-sawing from side to side, but ultimately the ladies retained their unbeaten record. The ladies team has gone all season without losing a single fight, and as a result have achieved a place in the premier league, something that the Edinburgh University Fencing Club has never achieved before for either their Mens or Ladies teams. The next match for the ladies will be in Sheffield for the BUSA semi-finals, against Cambridge. Should the ladies win that, they will go on to the finals in the same day. The ladies have achieved new distinction for EUFC, and hopefully will go on to do the same in the future.

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Fencing Club Sweeps BUSA Qualifiers

Over the weekend the Edinburgh University Fencing Club showed once again that they are the champions of Scottish fencing. The BUSA Qualifiers were held in Aberdeen over the 3rd and the 4th, and would determine who would compete in the finals. The club entered a Ladies B team, a Men’s A team, and a Men’s B team (the Ladies A team is in the Northern Premier League and is already qualified for the BUSA Championships). The Men’s A, Men’s B and Ladies’ B teams were competing this weekend for a place in the knock-outs of BUSA Championships, BUSA Shield and BUSA Trophy respectively. The results were all that the team had hoped for, with all three teams winning their divisions, and the ladies’ B team being promoted from 2nd to 1st division.

Both Saturday and Sunday were fraught with riveting matches. Men’s team B against Glasgow team A was a nail-biter in the true meaning of the word. Foil was lost to Glasgow by two points, and Sabre was won by two, leaving the score perfectly even. By the time the clock ran out on Epee the score was tied 30 – 30. A sudden death round was called, and the Edinburgh epeeist Carl Kleman had one minute to score the all deciding point against a French fencer rumoured to be 19th in the world junior ranking for Epee. Doubles were scored time after time (meaning each fencer got a point, so no one won the decisive point) until Kleman ultimately scored the critical single point. The Men’s A team also had a tense match in their final match of the weekend against St. Andrews. Both teams had gone undefeated, and emotions were running high with the battle to remain that way. Foil was lost but sabre charged ahead to snatch an easy victory. Epee seemed a losing battle until Wolfram Jahn produced a stunning performance to snatch up points and sail past the St. Andrews opposing epeeist. Ultimately Edinburgh was once again victorious. The Ladie’s B team unfortunately only had one other university to fence, Heriot Watt, as the other universities in the 2nd division were unable to field a team. The team was made up almost entirely of new fencers, who had just a couple or no previous competition experience. They preformed extremely well, winning the match and discovering some promising new sabreurs in Jenny Wong and Kirsty Redmonds.

The Men’s A team will go on to compete in the BUSA Championships, and the Men’s B team in the BUSA Shield. The Ladies’ B team will be fencing in the BUSA Trophy, and will be promoted from the 2nd division to the 1st next year. The weekend has proven the new teams strong and able, and no doubt will perform admirably in the upcoming knock-outs.

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