2023 Scottish Fencing AGM - link to register

Further to our earlier posts you can now register to attend the online AGM for Scottish Fencing which is at 6pm on 11 December 2023.

Please register for the AGM here

You can send your apologies using the same link. Also, if you have any questions for the Board you can send these in advance of the meeting using the link whether you can attend or not.

We will send a meeting invite to those registered so if you have do not sign up you won’t be able to attend. Registration closes noon Friday 8 December 2023. We will send the meeting link once registration closes.

Scottish Open 2023 round-up

The Scottish Open took place at The Peak, Stirling last weekend with over 160 fencers taking part over the two days. The event featured an open wheelchair event for the first time, four fencers competed in two rounds of poules, followed by a tableau to determine the medal winners. Scottish Fencing are grateful for the guidance and support received from the team at British Fencing and hope we can build on wheelchair event going forward.

The first day of competition featured Men’s and Women’s foil and Men’s Sabre with two rounds of poules followed by DE. In Men’s Foil Jaimie Cook defeated Vinson Wong in the final. Katie Smith defended the Women’s epee title she won in 2022 when she defeated Mhairi McLaughlin and Calum Kettles won the Men’s sabre title with opponent Quentin Geoffroy pulling up injured early in the final.

Sunday’s schedule featured Men’s and Women’s epee, Women’s Sabre and the Open wheelchair event. The open wheelchair sabre event saw James Burke winning gold in the men’s section, with Stuart Gurney taking silver, and Susie Seddon-Cowell taking gold in the women’s section with Wiktoria Mucha taking silver. In the Women’s epee event Lydia Stannier defeated Zoe Counter in an all Edinburgh Fencing Club final and Kate Daykin defended her Women’s sabre title, beating Elsie Llewellyn in a rematch of the 2022 final. Calum Johnston claimed the Men’s Epee title for an incredible 9th time following the final with Tobias Berry.

Congratulations to the medallists and well done to everyone who took part across the two day of competition.

For full results, please click here.

Scottish Fencing would like to extend thanks to the everyone who helped with the set-up, organisation and general running of the event, especially DT, the referees, armoury and the team of volunteers from Forth Valley FC who gave up their Friday and Sunday evenings to lay pistes and help with the clear up. 

It was great to have Leon Paul Scotland there all weekend with a range of fencing kit and equipment for fencers to try and buy. Visit their website to check out their latest offers https://www.leonpaul-scotland.co.uk/

Cadet and Junior Commonwealth Fencing Championships 2024

The Cadet and Junior Commonwealth Championships will take place in Christchurch, New Zealand 12th - 19th July 2024.

Please visit our Represent Scotland page for further information, including the selection policy and eligibility criteria.

Senior 5 Nations 2023 Results

Scotland finished runners-up to England in the overall results table after a great day of fencing at the sportscotland National Training Centre, Inverclyde on Saturday. The event was played in great spirit with all five countries fighting hard and enjoying the team competition.

Scotland’s Women’s Foil and Women’s Sabre teams won their respective weapon tables and England were the winners in Women’s Epee and Men’s Epee, Foil and Sabre.

Congratulations to the victorious England team and thank you to the teams from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales for putting up a good fight. Scottish Fencing would like to thank everyone who played a part in the running of the event, Team Managers, DT, referees and volunteers who helped with event set-up and tidy-up.

Team results

Women’s Epee

Women’ Foil

Women’s Sabre

Men’s Epee

Men’s Foil

Men’s Sabre

For the overall results for the event please click here.

Senior 5 Nations 2023

This year’s Senior 5 Nations is being hosted by Scottish Fencing and will take place at The National Sports Centre, Inverclyde this Saturday 18th November.

The Scotland teams are as follows;

Women's Epee

Rachael LEVER

Zoe COUNTER

Megan UPTON

Lucy GRANT

Women's Foil

Katie SMITH

Mhairi MCLAUGHLIN

Zoe WAGSTAFF

Ellen BUCKLEY

Women's Sabre

Kate DAYKIN

Rosalind GRAHAM

Elsie LLEWELLYN

Lucy HIGHAM

Men's Epee

Calum JOHNSTON

Jamie FIRTH

Jonathan WOOLLARD

Isaac MCKERR

Men's Foil

Alexander JONES

Nye Ulferts-Kilpatrick

Thomas Walton

Mike McKay

Men's Sabre

Caspian WATT

Stuart SCOTT

Ethan LLEWELLYN

Diego Baird-Ludlow

Good luck to Team Scotland!

Scottish Fencing and Scottish Student Sport renew partnership agreement.

Scottish Fencing and Scottish Student Sport (SSS) are excited to re-announce their partnership aimed at promoting and developing fencing among student athletes in Scotland.

Scottish Fencing are committed to developing student fencing in Scotland and reconfirming our partnership with Scottish Student Sport ensures we move forward with dual purpose!

Chris Purdie, Head of Competitions, Scottish Student Sport said:

“Through the renewed partnership between Scottish Fencing and Scottish Student Sport, we aim to actively promote and develop the sport of fencing within the student community. We’re enthusiastic about working together to provide opportunities for students to engage in and excel at fencing, fostering a supportive and competitive environment that contributes to the growth of the sport in educational institutions.”

Clare Queen, Chief Operating Officer/Head of Pathways, Scottish Fencing added:

“We are delighted to renew our partnership agreement with Scottish Student Sport for another two years. Student fencers are an important part of the fencing community and we are looking forward to working with Scottish Student Sport and Scottish Student Fencing to help support and strengthen the student fencing clubs and student fencing events. The key focus will be on providing opportunities for student fencing clubs to develop, coaches, referees and volunteers.”

We can’t wait to see our student fencers back on the pistes!

The World Anti-Doping Agency releases the 2024 Prohibited List with the inclusion of tramadol

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has published its 2024 Prohibited List. The
Prohibited List designates the substances and methods that are prohibited in sport.

Following an extensive consultation period by WADA, the 2024 Prohibited List was
published on 27 September 2023. This gives athletes and support personnel sufficient
time to make themselves aware of the changes, review any medications they use on
Global DRO, and apply for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) if required before the
updated List comes into effect on 1 January 2024.

Included on the 2024 List is the substance tramadol which will be banned in-
competition from 1 January 2024. Tramadol is an opioid analgesic and is classified as
a prescription only medicine in the UK.

UKAD will shortly be releasing a position statement for athletes and doctors on how to comply with the new tramadol regulations. This document will include the timeframes for when an athlete should submit a TUE for the use of tramadol, the factors to consider when making such an application, and scenarios whereby a TUE is unlikely to be granted.

Please visit UK Anti-Doping's website here to read a full summary of the changes on
the 2024 List.

The following resources are also available to read on WADA’s website:

• The full 2024 Prohibited List
• The WADA 2024 Summary of Major Modifications and Explanatory Notes
• The 2024 Monitoring Program which includes substances not currently on the
List but are being monitored by WADA for potential patterns of misuse in sport.

AGM Awards 2023 - The Nominees

Every year Scottish Fencing presents three awards:

·       The Crosnier Quaich for Performance,

·       The Crosnier Coaching Award, and

·       The Sword of Merit.

Scottish Fencing members will decide the winners for the Crosnier Quaich Performance Award and the Crosnier Coaching award. The Board of Scottish Fencing will decide the winner of the Sword of Merit Award. 

We will announce all the recipients at the Scottish Fencing AGM on 11 December 2023.

You can read about the nominations below and use this link to vote for the award nominees.

Please note there is one vote per paid member and only votes that have a valid membership number will count.

Voting closes at noon on 20 November.

The two nominations for the Crosnier Quaich for Performance are:

1.                Zoe Wagstaff

“At the end of last season she (Zoe) represented GBR at the Cadet European Championships 2023

She also came 7th British Senior Championships and 13th at the British Open Championships

This season (in her first year of juniors) Zoe has won the Manchester B BRC, Junior A1 BRC, Junior National Championships, U23 National Championships. “

2.                Georgina Usher, Nomination Crosnier Quaich,

“Reigning, Commonwealth, European and World Champion (Veterans). 

I thought Georgina had a fantastic year last year, but this year she has surpassed herself achieving a clean sweep internationally and in the UK at Veterans level.

On her way to the Veterans World Crown, she won the British Senior Women’s Epee, and the Welsh Open.  The ability to win at both levels is not achieved by many.

A truly remarkable year”

There is a nominee for the Crosnier Coaching Award and they will be announced at the AGM on 11 December.  

Sam McLellan wins Sportscotland Young Official of the Year award

Sam McLellan has won the Sportscotland Young Official of the Year award. The award is part of the annual Sportscotland Coaching, Officiating and Volunteering awards which aim to celebrate the incredible coaches, officials and volunteers who are making a difference across all sports in Scotland.

In 2022 Sam became, at 22, the youngest FIE certified sabre fencing referee in the world. One of only four current referees at this level in the UK, in his first season as a full international referee Sam was selected to referee the final bouts at U20 and U17 World Cup events in Germany, Spain and Hungary, and at the 2022 Senior Commonwealth Championships and European Veterans Championships. He was invited to join the senior officials team at the 2023 USA National Championships, the biggest fencing event in the world, refereeing across all events for ten days. He has refereed finals at all the major Open events in the UK and at the Senior British Championships.

Sam also volunteers his time as a referee at age group events, working long days to support young fencers. He runs referee education to support the development of officials in Scotland and has been a key member of the Scottish Fencing Referees Advisory Group. Sam joined the Scottish Fencing Board of Directors in 2023.  

Sam's dedication to continuous improvement led to his success in gaining FIE certification, passing a rigorous written and practical exam after multiple assessments at international events. The opportunity to sit this exam is limited to a handful of candidates per year, and only open to those identified by NGBs as high potential officials. Sam is now working towards a second FIE certification in Foil.

The award winners received their awards at an evening in Glasgow City Chambers on Thursday 2nd November. This was the first time that fencing has been recognised at the awards. Scottish Fencing would like to congratulate Sam on this fantastic achievement. Across the various categories, Fencing received ten nominations. Scottish Fencing would like to thank the community for their engagement

Scottish Fencing 2023 AGM - Awards

As part of Scottish Fencing’s annual tradition we are inviting the fencing community to nominate Scottish Fencing members for each of the awards presented at the Scottish Fencing AGM. The three awards are:

 Crosnier Quaich - Performance in competition.

Nominations for this award are welcome for all age groups and events including veteran, senior, junior cadet and para.

Crosnier Coaching Award - Services to coaching.

All nominated coaches need to be on the British Fencing Coaches Register so please check before nominating the coach you think deserves this award.

Sword of merit
To recognise any individual, club or organisation who has made an outstanding and inspirational contribution to the sport of fencing in Scotland.

You may nominate an individual, a team, a club or an organisation.

Please send your nominations explaining the reasons for each (100 words max per nominee) to admin@scottish-fencing.com

Nominations close noon Monday the 30 October 2023.

We will then publish what the Board consider to be the top three nominees in each category.

A public vote will then take place to determine the recipients of the Crosnier Quaich and Crosnier Coaching Award.

The Scottish Fencing Board will vote to determine the recipient of the Sword of Merit.

We will announce the recipients at the forthcoming Scottish Fencing AGM which will take place on 11 December 2023. To attend the AGM you need a valid membership or be attending on behalf of someone who has a current membership.

I look forward to receiving your nominations.

Your sincerely

Stan Stoodley

Scottish Fencing President

On behalf of the board of Scottish Fencing.