Scottish Fencing Annual Report

Hello and thank you for taking the time to read and view our Annual Report, which aims to provide members in particular and any others who may be interested with an overview of the year’s activities.

You can view a brief video of this years accomplishments here

The beginning of this year saw a continuation of remote working for Board and staff teams and the imperatives of protecting all those in the fencing community meant that, in common with all other indoor sports in Scotland, fencing as we had come to know it over many years had not resumed.  The Board and Staff Team used this time to strengthen links within the sport, and with other sports, disseminating changes to constraints on activities as these were directed, providing assurance of consistent understanding across the Scottish fencing community.  When constraints – and weather – allowed, a number of clubs delivered training sessions outdoors and focus and ingenuity enabled the delivery of some training activities.  Amazingly, during lockdown not one, but two new clubs were formed:  one, Forth Valley Fencing Club, obtaining its own premises.

Then fencing resumed!  This happened at different rates, for different age groups, but the desire to compete that had built over roughly eighteen months was released, with many Scottish fencers competing within Scotland, across the UK and overseas since they were able to do so, gaining many creditable results as they went.  All may not have returned to what was once considered “normal”, but fencers were once more able to meet friends and adversaries and do what we all love.    Importantly, Governments were articulating the importance of sport in improving both physical and mental health and aiding communities’ recovery from the effects of the pandemic and this approach will have significant impact over the coming years, providing the fencing community with challenges and opportunities to evolve.

On the Board, I judged the health of the organisation by the level of engagement in this spring’s election of Directors:  three years earlier, there had been three candidates for three vacancies, this year, we had seven candidates for four vacancies and following the election welcomed Mhairi McLaughlin and Stan Stoodley to the Board.  In September, we were pleased to welcome two new Independent Directors to the Board:  Giles Lomax brings extensive experience which we hope to draw upon to strengthen SF’s coaching and athlete pathways; Jude Salmon has a strong interest in the wider social outcomes sport can offer and we aim to utilise this in strengthening links with the Active Schools network and reestablishing fencing in those areas of Scotland where its presence has declined.

This period has been particularly challenging for our Staff Team, working to maintain links with clubs whilst, like many others, working remotely.  Liz Anderson has worked hard to support members throughout.  Vincent Bryson has maintained a coherent team, cooperated extensively with other Sport Governing Bodies and chaired a body of his peers from across Scottish sports, working with sportscotland to ensure that the interests of sports and participants were communicated effectively to Scottish Government Ministers throughout.  Finally, the indomitable Blair Cremin, having worked hard to develop talent-development pathways and nurture the person-centred approach to the development of young fencers in particular, left Scottish Fencing to assume a challenging and high-profile role at a professional football club with a strong community-development ethos.  Congratulations, Blair!  Thank you for all that you have done.  However, sunshine always appears after a storm and we were very pleased to be able to welcome Clare Queen who joins us from Scottish Golf as Scottish Fencing’s first Head of Pathways and Community Change. 

I would like to thank sportscotland and our Partnership Manager Barry Cook for the continuing  support and continual engagement in improving how we work together.  Finally, thanks to all fencers, coaches, parents, club committees and all our members for your enthusiasm and I look forward to seeing you on or by a piste soon.

George Liston

 

Chair

Special Correspondent (back from their sickbed) RoundUp 4/5 December

It has been a busy weekend of fencing spanning the continent as Scottish fencers put on their Great Britain patches to compete in FIE junior World Cups.

In Luxembourg, at the Epee World Cup, Isaac McKerr (Edinburgh Fencing Club) came through his poule with 3v 3d to be seeded 87th for the DEs.

He then won his L128 15-11 against the 44th seeded fencer to set up a L64 against Urban from Poland. In a close affair Isaac lost out 10-7 to finish the highest placed GB fencer in 60th. A very good result.

Rachael Lever also went 3v3d in her poules to be seeded 98th going into the DEs where she faced the 31st seeded Russian, Rustamova. Unfortunately Rachel lost out by the narrowest of margins 15-14 to finish 101st.

At the junior foil World Cup in Poland Jaimie Cook (Salle Holyrood), making his junior GB debut, and Joe Donaghue (Fencers Club London) took to the piste. Both eased through the poules, Jaime v5d1 and Joe v4d2.

Joe then narrowly lost out in the L128 15-12 to finish 90th.

Jaimie also lost out in the L128 to finish 68th.

In the team event Jaimie anchored GB to a L16 victory over the Ukraine 45-34, winning the final leg 11-2. In the L8 they came up just a little short against a strong Russia team losing 45-32 with Jaimie again anchoring. Next they faced Denmark where they lost by a

Single hit 45-44 before finishing their day with a match against Hungry which they narrowly lost 45-43 to finish 8th.

A Sabre Junior World Cup was taking place in Poland with Rory McLellan (Salle Ossian) fencing for GB. Rory was 1v5d in the poules and unfortunately missed the cut to finish 127th.

In the women’s event Charlotte Wilson-Smith went 2v4d in her poule this put her 106th which meant she just missed the cut for the DEs.

A legion of cadets made the trip south for foil BRC.

David Kelly (33), James Havard (38), Michael Ramage (39), Marco Scully (40) and Euan Drummond-Murray (41) all made the L64, while Merryn Ulferts-Kilpatrick (32), Lauren Byrne (20) reached the L32. All of these were part of the large Salle Holyrood team participating.

Imogen Cook (Salle Holyrood, 10th), Abigail McVinnie (Salle Holyrood 11th), Sophie Schofield (Forth Valley Fencing, 15th) and Lev-Jac Hu (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 16th) progressed as far as the L16.

Ann-Emma Hu (Edinburgh Fencing Club) just missed out on a bronze losing in the L8 to finish a very good 5th.

Nye Ulferts-Kilpatrick (Salle Holyrood) continued his impressive season by winning bronze. 4th seed out of the poules he stormed through his DEs before losing to eventual winner David Sosnov in the L4.

More Scottish epeeists headed south for the Elite Epee and u17 BRC events in Manchester.

In the u17 event Nathan Brown (Forth Valley Fencing) went out in the L64 to finish 38th. Haldane Falby (Forth Valley Fencing, 25th) and Lucas McKerr (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 26th) both reached the L32 before bowing out. Murdo Glen (Forth Valley Fencing, 12th) had a good day making the L16, while Adam Howie (Edinburgh Fencing Club) and Angus Scott (Forth Valley Fencing, 11th) met in an all Scottish L16 with Adam claiming a L8 place 15-11. In the L8 Adam lost out 15-7 to finish an excellent 7th.

In the women’s event Rachel Chalmers (Forth Valley Fencing, 39th) lost by a single hit 15-14 in the L64.

In the senior men’s event Calum Sutherland (Elgin Duelists, 9th) and Jonathan Woollard (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 11th) both reached the L16 in a strong field. Both fencers put out Scottish team mates on route Calum beating Jamie Firth (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 22ndT) and Jonathon beating Dylan Morrison (Edinburgh Fencing Club 20th). Also reaching the L32 ,were Alex Papadopoulos (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 17th) and Campbell Thomson (Brixton, 22ndT). Mark Lauchlan (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 36th), Hugh Kernohan (Salle Paul, 37th) and Jack Wilkie (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 57th) all bowed out in the L64.

Apologies if I have missed anyone and for missing a couple of weeks through illness. It was brilliant to see Calum and Georgina’s great form continue at the Welsh Open.

#ForgingTheFuture

Scottish Fencing Awards - 2021

Every year Scottish Fencing presents three awards:

·       The Crosnier Quaich for Performance,

·       The Crosnier Coaching Award, and

·       The Sword of Merit which is to recognise and reward an individual, club or organisation that has inspired or excelled.

As part of Scottish Fencing’s new tradition of opening up the awards to public nominations and vote the 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 winners at the Scottish Fencing AGM on the December 13th. Use this link to find out more about the Scottish Fencing AGM.

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

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

Voting closes at noon on December 10th.

Crosnier Quaich – Performance Award -2021

Whilst there have not been many competitions there have still been some outstanding results for Scottish fencers this year. Below are the 2021 nominees.

1. Calum Johnston

Calum Johnston (Edinburgh Fencing Club) for winning the British Senior Epee title for a third time. A record for a Scottish fencer I am told and the first person to do it since Jon Willis. It is incredible that he has never won this award before given we don’t have senior British Champions every year. 

 2. Jamie Cook.

Since competition started back in June Jaimie, aged 16, has consistently excelled in competition, reaching the finals of every event he has attended:

June: Fencer’s Club London Senior Open, 3rd

July: British Cadet Ranking Competition, London, 1st; British Junior Ranking Competition, 1st

August: British Cadet Ranking Competition, Herts, 1st; British Junior Ranking Competition, 1st

Sept: British Cadet National Championships, 2nd; British Junior National Champion

Oct: British Under 23 National Champion

Nov: British Senior National Championships, 2nd

Jaimie is currently No 1 in the GB Cadet and Junior Rankings and No 3 in the Under 23 Rankings.

Crosnier Coaching Award -2021

This award recognises the hard work our coaches do in our clubs developing the sport and bringing the fencing community together.

1.Alex McLeod

Alex McLeod (Dunedin Fencing Club) for having the courage to start an entirely new club from scratch in the middle of a pandemic and putting the changing lives agenda at the top of the clubs agenda. The club is a charity with hopeful mission (To build strong and resilient people through fencing), vision ( A club that invests in the physical and mental wellbeing of its fencers to develop people who are happy, healthy and active members of society.) and values (Physical & mental health, service to others, fencer-lead, openness & accessibility and true athletes). His is a template that all new fencing clubs should follow. 

2. Moya Nelson

Moya is lead Coach of Orkney Fencing Club with members aged 10-62. It is a strong community club welcoming those who need additional facilities and help to enjoy fencing. The advent of the pandemic and lockdown was a blow to this small community.

Moya worked to mitigate this using zoom to run strength and conditioning sessions ensuring everyone knew the club would survive the pandemic. She ran a summer camp this year with mainland coaches and fencers to stoke people’s passion to return to fencing.

She has been on local radio encouraging people to join, running the adult beginners session. She has not been put off by the variability of the numbers who turn up, but keeps volunteering, offering people the ability to be all they can be, at whatever level.

3. Naomi Farmer

Naomi is one of our prominent female sabre coaches.  She is a coach at Edinburgh Fencing Club where her focus is on introducing young people to sabre fencing, building their enthusiasm and skills.

She was selected to be a member of the coaching group that accompanied the Scottish Team to the 5 Nations in Dublin and has worked on the two Pathways Squads.  Within these squads she has contributed to the ethos and positive energy around these groups.  Making the online sessions enjoyable when Covid ended the in-person sessions.  On her recent video as Lead Weapon Coach she explained her philosophy of train hard and believe in yourself on the day of every competition. 

4. Kevin Milne.

Kev runs a fun, inclusive and affordable club of which my son and I are members. The club has always been really well-run but the efforts Kev has gone to during lockdown have really brought to the fore just how dedicated and pioneering he is. Kev kept us all training for free during lockdown over Zoom and as soon as it was safe to train outdoors, we were. Members from other clubs were able to train with us whilst their clubs remained closed and while restrictions allowed. Kev always strives to provide an excellent service for a low price to keep fencing affordable and be wholeheartedly deserves recognition for his achievements. 

2022 Commonwealth Fencing Championships - Injury Form

If you or your fencer if they are aged U18 miss a competition or squad training session due to an injury, covid test or self-isolation request please use this link to complete an injury form

This will allow selectors to take into account this information when it comes to Commonwealth selection.

We have also refined the selection policy - there are no major changes just some clarification and details to ensure everyone is clear about what selectors are expecting Use this link to read the refined Commonwealth Selection policy

For anyone looking for information on how rankings work use this link to British Fencing’s ranking webpage

Special Correspondent RoundUp - 13/14 November 2021

It was a continent spanning weekend of fencing for Scottish fencers young and young-at-heart this weekend. Cadets were in action in London and Budapest, u23s in London, seniors in Orleans and veterans in Madrid.

The outstanding result of the weekend was by foil cadet Callum Penman (Salle Holyrood) who made the L16 in the International Cadet Foil event in Budapest. In a field of 285 Callum was seeded 44th after the poules. He proceeded to fight through the L256 15-2, L128 15-10, L64 15-4 and L32 15-8, before finally succumbing in the L16 to American Mitchell Huth 15-6. This result will put Callum in a very good position in respect of making the GB team for European and World Championships next year.

Callum’s Salle Holyrood teammate Jaimie Cook also had a very good day making the L32. Seeded 63rd after the poules Jaimie won 15-2, 15-10 to reach the L64 where he faced the 2nd seed, who he then dispatched 15-7. In L32 he lost out 15-7 to finish 29th. Another great result.

Jaime and Callum also fenced in the team event but GB unfortunately lost their L32 45-37 to finish 17th.

The final Scottish fencer in the men’s event was Thomas Walton (Salle Holyrood) who was making his GB debut. Seeded 171st after the poules he upset the seeding by winning his L256 comfortably 15-6. He lost in the L128 to eventual bronze medalist Valeri Kornlov of Russia to finish 124th. Hopefully the first of many GB appearances for Thomas.

In the women’s cadet there also two very good L128 finishes. Zoe Wagstaff (Salle Holyrood) won her L256 15-10 before narrowly losing to the 13th seed 15-12 in the L128 to end the day 122nd out of 265. Hannah Fielding (Edinburgh Fencing Club) making her GB debut defied her lower seeding to win her L256 15-7 before missing out in the L128 15-8 to finish 126th. Also making their GB debut in the women’s event was Imogen Cook (Salle Holyrood) who lost in the L256 to finish 194th.

At the veterans sabre event in Madrid Michele Narey just missed out on a medal losing in the L8 to finish 6th.

Staying on mainland Europe Jessica Corby (Leon Paul, 145th) and Kate Daykin (Salle Ossian, 122nd) were both competing in the Senior sabre event in Orleans for GB. Unfortunately they both missed the cut after the poules.

Continuing with sabre the British Fencing U23 took place at the Leon Paul Centre in Hendon. In the women’s event, Elsie Llewellyn (Sancroft Blades) won bronze. Seeded first after the poules she defeated fellow Scot Cerys Manning (University of Glasgow, 8th) in the L8 before losing a tight L4 15-12. Salle Ossian fencers Charlotte Wilson-Smith (5th) and Caitlin Quinn (7th) also finished in the L8.

In the men’s event Ethan Llewellyn (Sancroft Blades, 8th) came through a nail biting L32 15-14 before winning his L16 15-12 . He was defeated in the L8 15-5 by the eventual silver medal winner.

In the final sabre event of the weekend, the cadet BRC, Rosie Shaw (17th), Joshua Bryden (19th), Oisin Lindsay-Dorward (21st), Miller Hetherington (27th) and Hugo Shaw (29th) all from Salle Ossain, reached the L32. While Griffin Manning (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 33rd) and Calum Kettles (Salle Ossian, 34th) made the L64.

Joe Donaghue (Fencers Club London, 13th) was the sole male Scottish fencer at the Junior foil ranking event at the Sports Doc in London. Seeded 12th after two rounds of poules he had a bye to the L32 where he won 15-6, before losing by a single hit in the L16 15-14. In the women’s event Eilidh Hall (University of Glasgow, 17th) made the L32.

Once again Scottish fencing would like to thank all the fencers, coaches, clubs and parents for their fantastic commitment to the sport. In what is always a hectic time of year competition wise we salute you.

#ForgingTheFuture

(Sincere apologies if I have missed anyone or made any errors. All mistakes are the authors.)

Scottish Fencing 2021 AGM - Awards

As part of Scottish Fencing’s new annual tradition we are inviting you to make a nomination for each of the awards presented at the Scottish Fencing AGM. We would like you to nominate for each of the following: 
  
Crosnier Quaich 
Performance in competition.  

Harder this year due to the lack of competition however there have already been some outstanding results. These are not only limited to senior events, veteran and junior and cadet nominations are welcome

Crosnier Coaching Award 
Services to coaching. This year you may also wish to consider how coaches have kept fencers engaged over lockdown. 
 
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 each) to myself Stan Stoodley, Scottish Fencing President. This is the link to email your nomination to Stan, Scottish Fencing’s president
  
Nominations close on noon the 22 November 2021. After which we will make three nominees in each of the categories public. 
  
A public vote (of Scottish Fencing members) will then take place to determine the recipients of the Crosnier Quaich and Crosnier Coaching Award while board of Scottish Fencing will vote to determine the recipient of the Sword of Merit.

    
We will announce the recipients at the forth coming Scottish Fencing AGM which will take place virtually on 13 December 2021. Use this link to register for the Scottish Fencing AGM. You can also use this form to register your apologies if you are unable to join the meeting. 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. 

Scottish Fencing Annual General Meeting

The 2021 Scottish Fencing Annual General Meeting will take place on Monday 13th December 2021 at 6pm via video conference.

It will of course be free to attend for all SF members and we would love to see you all for a pre-Christmas celebration of what has been a “different” but “significant” year for Fencing in Scotland.

You can register to attend (or to note your apologies) using this link.

All my board and staff colleagues hope to see you all there.

George Liston

Chair - Scottish Fencing

British Championships - update from our Special Correspondent

Johnston regains British title.

Calum Johnston (Edinburgh FencingClub) is British Epee Champion after defeating Olympic Modern Pentathlon gold medalist Joseph Choong at the Sports Dock this afternoon.

Calum dropped one poule match to be seeded 10th going into the DEs and proceed to cut through his side of the draw 15-10, 15-13, 15-3 and 15-11 to reach the final where he faced off against the Team GB Tokyo medalist Choong, winning 15-11.

Jonathan Woollard (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 8th) had a very productive day making the L8 putting out fellow Scot Campbell Thomson (Brixton, 10th) in the L16, before he fell to British Number 1 Phillip Marsh, who also dispatched Dylan Morrison (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 22nd) in the L32.

Alex Papadopoulos (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 19th), Jamie Firth (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 20th) made the L32 while Isaac McKerr (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 53rd) and Tom Hoffman (Edinburgh Fencing Club 58th) who put out former Olympian Hugh Kernohan (Salle Paul, 71st) in the L128, went out in the L64. Robbie Brown (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 82nd))also made the L128.

In the women’s epee Georgina Usher (Salle Paul) continued her remarkable return to competition by winning a bronze medal. Like Calum she battled her way from being seeded 10th coming out of the poules to the podium.

Alex Stewart (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 29th) made the L32 with Lucy Grant (University of Dundee, 38th), Dana Fielding (West Fife, 53rd), Keira Papadopoulos (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 56th), Voe Counter (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 59th) and Rachel Lever (University of Nottingham, 60th).

In the men’s foil Jaimie Cook (Salle Holyrood) won silver.

The 16 year old had an incredible run to the final of the men’s foil and came within a match of adding to his Junior and U23 British titles.

His poule performance earned him a bye to the L64 where a win over fellow Scotland teammate Alexander Jones (Salle Boston, 61st) started a run of victories that carried him all the way to the silver medal.

Junior international Joe Donaghue (Fencers Club London, 7th) also had a very good day. Again good poule results had earned him a bye to the L64 and he battled through the next 3 DEs to claim a L8. Another fantastic result.

Continuing the theme of youthful success cadet Callum Penman (Salle Holyrood, 9th) blitzed his poule to be second seed going into the DEs, before losing out in the L16.

Elsewhere in the men’s event Keith Cook )Salle Holyrood, 18th) made the L32 with Jonathan Woollard (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 39th), Nye Ulferts-Kilpatrick (Salle Holyrood, 52nd), and Shaun Alderman (Salle Holyrood, 59th) all making the L64.

Mike McKay (Sheffield Buccaneers, 72nd), Michael Ramage (Salle Holyrood, 77th), Dylan Roberts (Salle Boston, 81st), Nick Dootson (Salle Holyrood, 88th) and Iain Fielding (West Fife, 97th) all went out in the L128.

In the women’s event Chloe Dickson (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 7th) was the highest placed Scottish fencer as she clinched a L8 finish. Chloe was seeded 10tth out of the poules and then won impressively 15-1, 15-3 and 15-11 to reach the L8 where she lost 12-7.

Sarah Barrett (West Fife, 14th) and Zoe Sudderick (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 16th) made the L16 with Katie Smith (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 17th), Mhairi McLaughlin (Salle Holyrood 22nd), Hannah Fielding (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 30th) and Chloe Campbell (Forth Valley Fencing, 32nd) all reaching the L32.

Alex Htet-Marshall (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 53rd) and Ellen Buckley (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 54th) both lost out in the L64.

Jessica Corby (Leon Paul Project) collected the fourth Scottish medal of the weekend as she won bronze in the women’s sabre.

After a difficult start in the poule Jessica rallied to progress 15-9, 15-13 and 15-14 through her DEs to reach the semi final where she lost out to eventual winner Caitlin Maxwell.

Lucy Higham (Salle Ossian, 12th) and Elsie Llewellyn (Sancroft Blades, 13th) reached the L16 while Rosalind Graham (Sancroft Blades, 20th) made the L32.

In the men’s event Rory McLellan (Salle Ossian, 19th) and Ethan Llewellyn (Sancroft Blades, 22nd) progressed as far as the L32.

Running alongside the Senior British Championship was a very well attended Cadet Sabre BRC.

In the women’s event all the Scottish fencers hailed from that sabre hotbed in Perth, Salle Ossian Fencing Club.

Honor Paul (9th) and Sophia Mline (15) were the best placed with L16 finishes. Lucia Paul (19th), Rosie Shaw (20th) and Eve Symons (23rd) made the L32.

In the men’s event 5 Scottish fencers made the L32, Joshua Bryden (Salle Ossian, 18th), Oisin Lindsay-Dorward (Salle Ossian, 26th), Miller Hetherington (Salle Ossian, 27th), Griffin Manning (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 30th) and Calum Kettles (Salle Ossian, 31st).

Hugo Shaw (Salle Ossian, 37th), Brodie MacDonald (West Lothian, 38th) and Guy Lumsden (West Lothian, 40th) all made the L64.

Scottish Fencing would to thank all the fencers, clubs, coaches and parents for all their amazing hard work and dedication. To have over 70 fencers competing in London over the weekend is remarkable.

#ForgingTheFuture

PS - please forgive any errors or omissions and let is know if you spot any. Thank you!

Special Correspondent - More Manc’ Medals…

More Medals mined in Manchester!

We come to the end of a very busy fencing weekend with the British Veterans Championship Sabre events and the British Fencing Men’s u23 Epee.

At the veterans event more than a dozen Scottish fencers took to the piste.

Vivien Frith (Shakespeare Swords) claimed a hard fought bronze medal and a gold for her category in the women’s sabre.

Michele Narey (Bath Sword, 6th) and Rosalind Graham (Sancroft Blades, 8th) both made the top 8 with Rosalind also winning the gold in her category.

Yvonne Walls (Salle Ossian, 15th) made the L16 with Lorna Smith (Strathclyde University, 19th) making the L32.

In the men’s event Nick Fletcher (House of Sabre, 5th) and Mo Mansoori (Kingston, 6th) we’re the highest finishers both making the L8.

Steven Ferguson (Salle Ossian, 14th), Richard Foster (Exeter City, 15th) and Kevin Mline (West Lothian, 16th) all made the L16, while Keith Davidson (Glasgow West End, 21st), Alex Pearson (Salle Ossian, 22nd), Brent Myers (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 30th) and Alan Stewart (West Lothian, 32nd) went out in the L32. Tom Jarosz-Cromie (Salle Ossian, 33rd) and Sam McCarlie (West Fife, 43rd) made the L64.

In Hendon at the men’s u23 epee championship Isaac McKerr (Edinburgh Fencing Club 7th) narrowly missed out on a medal losing his L8 to the eventual winner 14-15 to finish 7th. On route he had put out fellow scot, and former Dunblane clubmate Fraser O’Brien (University of Bristol, 51st) in the L64. Dylan Morrison (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 21st) made the L32.

Next weekend promises to be equally as busy as a legion of Scots head to London for the Senior nation championships at the Sports Doc. Hopefully it will bring as many medals back north. “

#ForgingTheFuture

Special Correspondent - Epic Roundup!

North West Gold Rush!

The Scottish invasion of north west England returned 3 gold medals today.

At the British Veterans Championship at the Manchester Fencing Centre Georgina Usher (Salle Paul) claimed gold in the women’s epee. Georgina dominated all day, winning all her poule fights to be 1st seed going into the DEs. A position she never gave up, winning the final 10-4.

Elsewhere in the women’s epee frequent travel companions and friends Karen Grant (West Fife, 20th) and Maggie Tait (Orkney, 22nd) both made the L32.

Down the road in Liverpool at the British Fencing foil BRC, Ann-Emma Hu (Edinburgh Fencing Club) and Nye Ulferts-Kilpatrick (Salle Holyrood) made it a Scottish gold double.

Nye emerged from two rounds of poules undefeated and proceeded to battle through his DEs to win an exciting final 15-13.

Ann-Emma was seeded 4th after the poules before winning her DEs 15-3, 15-9, 15-5 and 15-8 to reach the final which she won 15-11.

Imogen Cook (Salle Holyrood, 7th) made an excellent L8 while, Thomas Walton (Salle Holyrood 9th), Zoe Wagstaff (Salle Holyrood 9th), Lev-Jac Hu (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 12th), Abigael McVinnie (Salle Holyrood ,14th), David Kelly (Salle Holyrood, 14th) and Soohie Schofield (Firth Valley Fencing, 16th) all made the L16.

In the L32 we had Lauren Byrne (19th), Merryn Ulferts-Kilpatrick (25th), Michael Ramage (25th), Marco Scully (28th) and James Harvey (31st) and then in the L64 there was Euan Drummond Murray (35th) and Joseph Cox (37th) all of whom fence at Salle Holyrood. What an effort!!!

Joseph and Euan went home with gold and silver medals respectively from the secondary competition to take more bling north up the M6.

Before we leave the north west and head south for the sabre action there are still three events at the British Veterans Championship to report on.

First off Paul Stanbridge (Salle Holyrood)won a bronze medal in a highly competitive men’s foil event on Friday.

Shelia Anderson (Glasgow West End, 6th) and Nick Mort (Saxon, 8th) both finished in the L8, with Mike McKay (Sheffield Buccaneers, 9th) making the L16 and Kevin Mline (West Lothian, 30th) falling in the L32.

The men’s epee was very well attended with a L128 being required! Hugh Kernohan (Salle Paul) was the highest placed scot claiming a L16 place to finish 12th.

Niall Campbell finished 31st in what is a rare epee credit for Salle Ossian, fabulous to see.

Malcom Donnie (Glasgow West End, 48th), Andrew Munley (55th) and Brent Myers (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 62nd) made the L64 with Sam McCarlie (West Fife Fencing, 69th) and Alan Stewart (West Lothian Fencing, 72nd) succumbing in the L128.

Leaving the north west for the evening the next of the days results come from the Senior Hamlet Sabre event, which again was very well attended.

Kate Daykin (Salle Ossian) won bronze, narrowly missing out on the final 15-12. A great result.

Jessica Corby (5th) and Elsie Llewellyn (Sancroft Blades, 7th) finished in the top 8.

Rory McLellan (Edinburgh University Fencing Club, 15th) reached the L16, while Giulia Gasparin (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 17th), Rosalind Graham (Sancroft Blades, 21st) and Caitlin Quinn (Salle Ossian, 31st) made the L32.

Hannah Toy (Sancroft Blades, 34th), Julian Ghosh (Camden Fencing Club, 34th), Cerys Manning (University of Glasgow, 35th) and Ethan Llewellyn (Sancroft Blades, 42nd) all went out in the L64. Jack Geddes (Salle Ossian, 72nd) and Andy Pearson (Sancroft Blades, 79th) bowed out in the L128.

The final event of the day was the British Fencing U23 Women’s Epee Championship at the Leon Paul centre in Hendon.

There were only two Scottish competitors (although some more are based in Scotland) taking part.

Rachel Lever (University of Nottingham) reached the L16 to finish 10th and Dana Fielding (West Fife Fencing) went out in the L64 to finish 46th.

What a weekend - talk about #ForgingTheFuture…