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December Cadet Winton Cecilia, Libby and Patrick Caffrey were all selected for the Cadet Winton sabre over the weekend of 17-18 December. Their teams' results were mixed, but all three fenced well and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Elite Epee Junior Series, December 18th Congratulations to Lydia Stanier on winning the last girls' U16 competition of 2011. She has now won two out of two in the 2011/2012 Elite Junior Series and has a commanding lead in the points standings. Full Results OFC Pro-Am Foil Competition, December 9th Congratulations to the team of Malcolm/Heloïse/Sarah who won all their matches to lead the field ahead of Solly/Sylvia/Alexander. Both teams won Leon Paul branded sweets. This was a fun competition to introduce our new beginners to the rest of the club. Well done to all, we saw some great fencing! Thank you to Richard for reffing all night long. 1) Malcolm/Heloïse/Sarah 2) Solly/Sylvia/Alexander 3) Zane/Maddie/Dan 4) Craig/Pete/Jonty 5) Rebecca/Bryan/Martin 6) Lorcan/Jason/Ben 7) Jessie/Paige/Mark BBO Foil Rally, December 4th The OFC Tinsel Feet team, sporting tasteful red tinsel around their ankles (James Magé, Maddie Bonham-Jones and Jason Turner) did very well, coming 10th out of a field of 27 teams. Jason was the star fencer, losing only one bout. Tinsel Feet beat Jingle Belles (Headington) 5-1 and Rampaging Reindeer (also Headington) 5-4, but were defeated 2-5 by Frosty The Armed and Dangerous (a mixed team).
There was great support from parents as Tinsel Feet had to wait over two hours to start their first bout. There was a fantastic atmosphere and was well worth the trip on a cold December morning. Hopefully we can get some more participation from Oxford next year! 
James takes on a Christmas tree! The other Tinsel Feet team members look on.  There was a slight height difference between the members of the Tinsel Feet team. Elsewhere several OFC members starred, though they weren't fencing for the club. Most noteworthy were Edmund and Alisdair Cornforth, representing Joscas in the Muppet Fencing team, who won the overall prize. 
Edmund and Alisdair, along with their third team member, hold the impressive Foil Rally trophy. Meanwhile Lydia Stanier's Cheese and Crackers Oxford High School team finished 24th. Newham Leon Paul Junior Series, December 4th Heloïse Hardie was sixth in the field of 21 under-11 girl foilists. She was beaten 9-10 by the same girl who knocked her out of the previous LPJS round in Camden, just missing out on the medals on both occasions. Meanwhile Alexander Hardie had a good result finishing 12th out of 33 in the under-13 boys foil, he was pipped 7-10 in his L16 fight. Autumn 2011 Beginners Competition The OFC Autumn 2011 beginners’course ended on Friday 2nd December with a mini poule amongst the beginners’ class. The entrants were Isabella, Haroun, Harriet, Katie, Zane, Jessie, Solly and Lorcan. Under the watchful eye of their coach, Malcolm Allton, all the competitors fought well with both Isabella and Haroun in particular punching above their weight against some tough senior competition. At the end of the poule it came down to Zane and Lorcan, with 6 victories each, to go head to head. With time running out both fencers fought well with Lorcan finally taking the honours and being crowned the overall course winner. 
Beginners fence electric at the completion of their course; Zane v Lorcan. Southern Region, Age Group Team Foil & Epee Competition, November 20th The OFC under-16 foil team had a great result, winning gold against local rivals Swindon. Qualifying went well with the OFC team of Lydia Stanier, Alexander Hardie and Edmund Cornforth heading the field of ten teams. A bye through to the semi-final saw a tough match against a team of tall fencers from Escrime who were beaten with good performances from all OFC fencers. In the final OFC trailed Swindon until Lydia took the piste for the final bout 35-40 down, but she fenced superbly to win 45-44 with just 20 seconds remaining on the clock. Meanwhile the OFC under-13 team of Heloïse Hardie, Alisdair Cornforth and Paige Tierney finished third of eight teams. They dropped just one match out of four but it was sufficient to put them behind the Dragon team, which included OFC fencers Nathaniel Moatti and Harry Vaughan-Williams, who finished second. Meanwhile OFC fencer Ben Schneider was representing Abingdon School in the under-16 epee; his team finished third. A special mention to Johannes Halbach who travelled all the way down to Reading but didn't have a chance to fence in the under-16 epee competition because his OFC team mates were involved in the over-running foil event and had to return home without even picking-up a weapon. 
The lamé wearing OFC under-16 team of Alexander, Edmund and Lydia with their gold medals. Also in the photo are Alisdair, Ben and Heloïse. Friendly Match, OFC v Oxford University Intermediates, November 15th We shared honours with the OUFC Intermediates when they visited us on a Tuesday club night for a friendly match. It was an easy victory for the strong OFC epee team of Richard, Mark and Lydia; winning 45-28. However, foil was a different matter with a super-sized poule unique mixing the OFC and OUFC fencers together. OUFC took the win but the outcome was only decided in the last couple of bouts. Well done to OFC fencers Fiona, Hannah, Maddie, Rosalba, Theresa, Dan, Jack and Ryan. For some this was the first experience of competition with opponents from outside the club, and all OFC fencers did very well. European Cadet Circuit, Sofia, November 12th
Nuno Esteves was in Sofia, Bulgaria representing Portugal at one of the European Cadet Circuit Sabre events. Seriously debilitated by a chest infection, he nevertheless managed to make the Last 32. In the first round of poules, Nuno won 4 fights and lost 2, followed by 3v-3d in the second round of poules. He then knocked-out a Romanian fencer by 15-14 in the Last 64 before losing to a Bulgarian 8-15 in the Last 32. Nuno finished 28th in the competition. In normal conditions, he would have made the Last 16...next time. Sevenoaks Cadet, BFA Nominated Event Sabre Cadets Selection, November 5th Nuno Esteves finished 3rd out of 39. He was 6th after the poules, then through to the Last 32 (15-14), L16 (15-8), L8 (15-14 coming back from 13-8 and 14-10!). Nuno was knocked-out in the semi-finals to the current U17 British champion (11-15). It was a very tough competition with Nuno fencing well. .jpg) 
BBO Epee Championship, Langley, November 5th Ben Schneider was the only representative of the club present but made a great impact by winning gold in the boy's under-14 epee competition. It was only a small field but the result is one of which Ben should be very proud. October Allstar Cup, Wolverhampton, October 30th Congratulation to Sam Hughes for winning the bronze medal. Sam was knocked out in the semi-final with a score of just 13-15. Many of Sam’s competitors had a higher national ranking and she was very pleased with her performance. Full Results 
Sam training on a typical OFC club night. Photo courtesy of Mario Mage. FIE Satellite, Ghent October 23rd
Nuno Esteves' first experience at a FIE senior sabre competition. Nuno finished 49th out of 61. He fenced well but lost three matches at 5-4 in the second round of poules. Frustrating but overall positive experience which helped him preparing for further competitions. Congratulations to Lydia Stanier Lydia's recent string of strong results means that she is now England #1 under-15 girl foilist and England #1 under-15 girl epeeist. Quite a unique double achievement which will see her representing the country in Paris and Wrocklaw in the New Year. Swindon v OFC, Friendly Junior Foil Match, October 26th Two OFC junior teams braved a cold dark night to travel to a mid-week away friendly match at Swindon FC. The under-12 team (Bryan, Heloïse, Paige and James) enjoyed victory, winning 11 bouts to 5 for the home side. Meanwhile, the under-16 team (Ben, Alec and Alexander) fared less well, losing 45-35 in their relay match. Thanks to Swindon for their hospitality and to the OFC fencers and parents to make it a friendly yet competitive encounter. Plans are underway for a rematch at home in the New Year. Berks, Bucks & Oxon County Foil Championship, Langley, October 16th OFC had a remarkably successful day with each one of its thirteen attending club members returning home with a medal! Perhaps the most outstanding feat was that of the men's foil where OFC took a clean sweep of all the medals. Jack Jeffery won gold, beating Jonty Haberfield 15-14 in a very close final. The bronze medals were won by Gordon Hardie and Martin Carter. The U14 boys almost completed a clean sweep too; Alexander Hardie took gold, Ben Schneider silver and Bryan Kidd bronze. The U12 girls also had a strong showing with Heloïse Hardie winning gold and Paige Tierney silver. More golds were won by Edmund Cornforth in the U16 boys and Nathaniel Moatti in the U12 boys. Further bronze medals were won by Maddie Bonham-Jones in the U18 girls and James Magé in the U10 boys. Well done to everybody and thank you to all fencers and supporting parents who made it such a successful day for the club. Full Results 
Nathaniel Moatti (left) receives an off-target hit 
The OFC squad display their prizes 
Paige and Heloïse battle it out in the final of the girls' under-12 final Coventry Open; October 15/16th Nuno Esteves was 6th and Jorge Esteves 15th in the field of 28 men's sabruers and Kat Chzhen 10th in the women's sabre . Meanwhile, in the men's foil Richard Booth was 17th out of 52 entrants and recent OFC member Issie Winney was 3rd in the women's foil. Full results Camden LPJS, October 8th Heloïse Hardie was 5th out of 18 entrants. After the first round of poules Heloïse was ranked first. Despite winning all her fights in the second round, poor indicaters dropped her to third. Heloïse was then knocked out in the Last8 9-10 in extra time by the eventual silver medalist. GB under-17 National Championship, Sheffield; October 1st Congratulation's to Lydia Stanier for her superb 3rd place in the women's foil on Saturday against very tough national opposition. Just for good measure Lydia finished 38th out of 69 in the u20 women's epee on Sunday. Pretty good for a fourteen year old! Full results September 15th World Veterans Fencing Championship, Porec, Croatia; September 29th Congratulations to Sylvia Brown who was classified 5th in the women's epee. She was knocked-out by just a single hit, 8-9, in the Last 8. Sylvia had finished the poule stage in third place having won four out of five matches. Full results Friendly match v Swindon, September 28th The OFC senior foil teams suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Swindon FC. The 'A' team, comprising of Richard, Dan and Gordon, lost 39-44 with the close result thanks largely to a couple of great come-back bouts by Richard. Meanwhile the four man 'B' team of Martin, Ryan, Jonty and Philip lost 44-60, suffering at the hands of a strong home club team. One of the Swindon team members was a wheelchair fencer so our squad were given the great new experience of competing whilst sitting down - and not being able to run away when the going got too tough! Southampton Premier Foil Championship, September 18th It was double gold for the OFC girls with Page Tierney winning the GU9 and Heloïse Hardie winning the GU11. Both looked classy with neither dropping a fight as they progressed to their overall victories. Meanwhile the BU14 was saw Alexander Hardie finish 9th (disappointed to be knocked out of the L16 5-6 in extra time) and Ben Schneider finish 15th in a competitive field of 19. Bristol Open, September 18th Jack Jeffries, newly returned to fencing after a twelve year break, entered this prestigious open competition to gain some valuable foil experience. Here’s his report; It was a great experience, and I had a lot of fun. It bought floods of memories back, which was nice. We were split up into pools of seven, I had GB and IRL and other highly ranked fencers! I lost all 6 fights however scored 2 points against a chap and 1 off another. It was such fun. We then had a short break and I had to fence a chap who was ranked 50th!!!!! I lost BUT the score was 15 - 5 so I was pleased with that. I was knocked out so I entered the plate competition. I fenced a chap and it lasted a while and really got into it, best fight of the day and lost 15 - 9. A very good day out. And in the main comp was ranked 79th out of 83 something like that!!! Not last. Veterans Winton Cup, RAF Cosford, September 11th Malcolm Allton and Sylie Brown competed in the East Midland epee teams. Both men’s and women’s teams scored 6 victories out of 8 matches. These results gave the East Midlands joint second place overall. Essex Open, September 4th Sam Hughes entered the women’s epee and was very pleased with her 23rd place out of the 55 entrants. Sam’s first DE fight was against an old club mate who she beat but she was then knocked out of the L32 by the eventual silver medallist. Full results here: http://britishfencing.com/uploads/files/essex_open_2011_we.htm July Southern Region Triangular report
Saturday 23rd July 2011 - This was a very enjoyable day's fencing. Jonty and Mark were part of the BB&O foil team, with three members from Newbury; the BB&O epee team featured some fencers from Reading; there was no BB&O sabre team (which meant we had lost before the day began). They fenced Wiltshire, losing 15 victories to 10, refereed Wiltshire v Hampshire, and then were thrashed by an extremely strong Hampshire team 19-6.Jonty and Mark both thought they could have fenced a little better, but they each got some good wins against both oppositions, and the atmosphere was excellent throughout. Next year, if we could organise a heavily OFC foil team and rustle up a few sabreurs, outright victory could be on the cards. Much Wenlock Olympics OFC had a fantastic showing at the 125th running of the Much Wenlock Olympics. Lydia Stanier took the women's foil gold medal, winning a huge shield along with her gold medal. In the u13 foil team OFC also took gold. The team of Alexander Hardie, Bryan Kidd and Heloïse Hardie beat teams from Russell 37-33, Wenlock 38-28 and Joscas 45-22 to scoop first prize. Tony Robinson, with attendant TV crew, was an interested spectator.
OFC u10 foil Paige looked the class of the field as she took overall victory in the size 0 foil competition on Friday 1 July. In second place Gabriel put in a magnificent performance showing skill and aggression that will serve him well in his fencing career. Michael and Lukas shared third place, Michael having qualified second in the poule but not being able to keep it up in the direct elimination. June 2011 White Horse trophy, Abingdon A three-weapon team of Volker L (f), Mark Le (e) and Mark W (s) finished third in this prestigious local competition on 26 June. Our team qualified fifth of the eight entered, eliminated the home Abingdon squad in the last 8 before suffering the same fate at the hands of a strong team from Saxon. Full results England youth championships We had a number of junior club members participating over a hot weekend in Hatfield. Lydia Stanier took bronze in the GU15 épée (and thus has qualified to represent England in Poland again) and 8th in the GU15 foil, losing by just one hit. Heloïse Hardie also lost by one hit in the Last 8 of the GU11 foil, finishing 5th. Paige Tierney finished 18th in the same event, at one point being 3-1 up against the eventual gold medalist in their poule fight. Fredrik Azzopardi finished 19th in the BU15 sabre. Johaness Halbach finished 23rd in the BU13 epee with Alexander Hardie 31st in the same event. Alexander also finished 40th of the 79 entries in the BU13 foil. Alisdair Cornforth was 29th and Harry-Vaughan-Williams 35th in the BU11 foil. Edmund Cornforth was 55th in the BU15 foil. Well done all! Full results OFC senior mixed foil There was a good number of entries for this event, held on the evening of Tuesday 21 June, and we only just got through all the bouts in time. 1) Volker L 8) Ben 2) Richard 9) Alexander 3) Lydia 10) Hannah Mark 11) Fiona 5) Ryan 12) Jonty 6) Gordon 13) Bill 7) Frank 14) Janina This proved to be Volker's last appearance at the club as he returned to Germany the next week, but he left us as club foil champion. BBO fencing picnic The club had a great turnout for this fun foil event, and we came away with some medals too! Out of the 27 pairs entered: 1) Heloïse 9) Edmund 2) Alexander 11) Alisdair 5) Ben S 24) Ben W 6) James & Gordon 26) Bryan 7) Jonty OFC intermediate foil On 17 June there was a low turn-out, but much fun was had by all--and it is reported that no blood was spilt. Philip took the honours from Peter, Jason and then Gabriel. The report continues; We did try a chair lift lap of honour for Philip around the sports hall but different heights of participants meant he kept falling off. I told him his prize fee of £250 and a pair of socks would be on its way from the committee shortly. OFC v Stowe School Honours were shared between the clubs as OFC A won 45-25 and OFC B lost 42-45. The A team (Alexander, Edmund, Heloïse) never looked in trouble and eased through to victory. Meanwhile the B team (Kevin, Peter, Alec) was altogether a more nail biting affair. At one point OFC B trailed 9-20 before making up the deficit and leading 40-39 with just one more bout to fence. Sadly Stowe's final fencer was stronger then ours and they were able to retake the lead and victory. A big thank you to Martin for refereeing all night. Portsmouth LPJS Heloïse Hardie was beaten in the GU11 final 8-9 in extra time and is determined to go one better next time. This was her third silver medal in this year's series. May 2011 Chichester open We had a strong club showing in the women's épée with Lydia Stanier finishing third and Sam Hughes seventh. Ironically both OFC members were knocked out by the same opponent in hard-fought bouts; nonetheless an impressive showing from both in the field of 32. Full Results
OFC u14 foil championship After a week of qualifying poules and then a week of direct elimination Alexander finished as club champion. He beat Ben 10-6 in the final, having beaten Heloïse 9-4 in their semi-final. Bryan was the other semi-finalist. There were some close fights all through the field and good experience was gained from participating in a proper competition. Well done everbody! Special thanks to Richard for refereeing all night. 1) Alexander 7) Oengus 2) Ben 8) Gavin 3) Bryan 9) Lukas =) Heloïse 10) Michael 5) Johannes 11) James 6) Paige 12) Toby
OFC sabre competition After épée last week, this time we gathered for sabre. Danny eased out to a 15-10 victory over Andy, who in turn had just shaded Olly B 15-14 in the semi-final. Meanwhile, Richard is making a good case for the unofficial title of club master at arms with a third place to back up his second at épée last week. 1) Danny 6) Gordon 2) Andy 7) Ralph 3) Richard 8) Olly F --------- 9) Fredrik 5) Mark 10) Ben
British youth championship u10 Paige Tierney travelled to Much Wenlock on 15 May to take part in the BYC for the youngest of fencers. Her first poule went well, her second less so, but she still qualified a creditable 11th. Unfortunately Paige then lost her first DE fight and she was eventually ranked 17th of the 27 GU10 foilists. Full results
Camden LPJS sabre Congratulations to Cecilia Caffrey for winning the GU17 section of this very competitive event, which even attracted international fencers. After his poules Patrick Caffrey was classified 20th of 27 BU15 sabreurs but lost his first DE. Meanwhile, Libby Caffrey's results in the GU15 have yet to be published by the organizers ...
OFC épée competition A dozen OFC members gathered for an enjoyable Tuesday night of épée competition. Tim was the eventual victor with an 11-10 win over Richard in the final. Jed also put in a superb result, qualifying second from the poule round, but was unable to continue in the DE. 1) Tim 7) Ryan 2) Richard 8) Gordon 3) Sam 9) Jed Volker 10) Martin 5) Ralph 11) Melanie 6) Jonty 12) Alexander
Brighton Open On 8 May Shaun Wood finished 29th of the 40 entries in the men's foil. Full results
Warwick LPJS épée At the Warwick Leon Paul junior series épée event on 8 May Lydia Stanier was placed 6th out of 22 in the GU15 category, Luca Roth 22nd and Johannes Halbach 26th in the field of 54 BU13. Full results
British youth championships Held in the Sheffield EIS over the three days of the May Bank Holiday weekend, the club had a great showing with ten junior members qualifying to represent the southern region, making 10 per cent of its entry. Lydia Stanier won silver in the GU14 épée and bronze in the GU14 foil, after being knocked out in a rather bizarre non-combativeness ruling. Lydia's two medals represented two-thirds of the total southern region haul of three. In foil Heloïse Hardie was 6th in the GU12, being knocked out of her last 8 match 9-10. Harry Vaughan-Williams was 20th in the BU12 and Hannah Shaw 22nd in the GU18. In the épée Luca Roth was 9th in the BU12 and Alexander Hardie 29th in BU14. Meanwhile in the sabre Nuno Esteves finished 16th in the BU16, Libby Caffrey 14th in the GU16, Cecilia Caffrey 14th in the GU18 and Patrick Caffrey 29th in the BU14. Full results
April 2011 Birmingham international At this prestigious event held on 23-24 April Sam Hughes was placed 55th in the women's épée, Nuno Esteves 41st and Jorge Esteves 70th in the men's sabre, Kat Chzhen 40th in the women's sabre, Richard Booth 59th in the men's foil and Issie Winney 37th in the women's foil. Full results Stratford-upon-Avon u14 sabre Patrick Caffrey reached the last 8 in this competition, which took place on 10 April. He was placed 4th after both rounds of poules having lost just one bout. He then received a bye in the L32 and won his L16 fight 10-3. Patrick then lost in the L8 9-10 in a close fought encounter with a home club fencer.
Friendly match: OFC juniors v Swindon juniors Strong junior teams from Swindon FC notched- p a 2-0 victory over OFC on Friday 8 April. With several of the OFC fencers either holidaying or saving themselves for Saturday's England Fencing training day there was an opportunity for some new faces to represent Oxford. The A team of Harry, Bryan and Toby (from our pre-Christmas beginners class) went down 12-45 to the impressive Swindon side. Meanwhile the B team of James, Paige and Michael B faired slightly better, but still lost 19-45. James took an impressive six points in his last bout, fighting to the bitter end. As a consolation, at the end of the night our A team took on the Swindon B team. This was a much closer match which could have gone either way, until Swindon eased ahead at the end to beat OFC 41-45. Thanks to Malcolm and Ralph for refereeing and to Swindon for making the trip across to see us. Friendly match: OFC v Swindon On 5 April a return visit by Swindon FC almost filled the hall with five simultaneous matches (35 fencers in all). In a very friendly but competitive evening the home men’s foil A team (Volker L, Will, Richard) won 45-32, men’s foil B (Mark, Ryan, Philip) won 45-36, ladies’ foil (Issie, Sophie, Janina) lost 37-45, épée (Malcolm, Ralph, Sylvia, Volker H) won 80-79 (with Malcolm making-up a five point deficit to take the final point and victory), sabre (Jorge, Hussain, Kat, Olly) lost 36-45. Pro-am competition April fool's day saw the latest 'pro-am' competition, designed to mix the recent beginners with the more experienced club fencers in a fun competition. Teams of three fencers of mixed abilities (generally experienced, intermediate and beginner) fought against each other in relays up to 15 hits. A total of eight teams entered. posn exp/int/beg fights victories win ratio 1) Richard/Peter/Alec 4 4 1.0 2) Alexander/Janina/Toby 4 3 0.75 3) James/Philip/Lukas 4 3 0.75 4) Will/Heloïse/Paige 5 3 0.60 5) Ryan/Michael F/Gabriel 4 2 0.50 6) Shaun/Sophie/Gavin 5 2 0.40 7) Isabel/Rosalba/Lisa 4 0 0.00 8) Kevin/Bryan/Michael B 4 0 0.00 The number of teams and the four pistes allowed almost constant fencing. Thanks to Ralph, Olly and Malcolm for reffing and ensuring the event's free running. March 2011 Coventry LPJS sabre At the LPJS sabre event at Coventry on 27 March Patrick Caffrey was 14th among the u15 boys; there were much smaller entries in the girls’ events, in which Libby Caffrey was 3rd in the u15 and Cecilia Caffrey 2nd in the u18 categories. See Coventry sabre. Challenge Wratislavia Lydia Stanier took 16th place among 125 entrants in the u15 girls’ épée at the challenge Wratislavia in Wrocław, Poland, on 24 March. In the last 16 Lydia lost 11-15 to another British girl, who took the silver medal. Another tremendous result. Packwood épée On 20 March Alexander Hardie was 5th out of 9 in the boys' u14 épée at Packwood Haugh school, near Shrewsbury. He topped his poule but lost 11-12 after extra time in the DE. A very enjoyable day, despite the long drive. Invicta open Fencing against experienced adult opponents in her first open competition Lydia Stanier put in a brilliant performance to take third place in the Invicta open épée in Canterbury on 19 March. Many congratulations! Eton LPJS At the Eton LPJS foil event on 12 March Edmund Cornforth finished 17th out of 25 u15 boys, and Alisdair Cornforth 17th out of 26 u11 boys, both doing well in the poules before losing in the first round of DE. Well done, solid performances. Keele open Congratulations to Mark Leech on his bronze in the men's foil at the Keele open on 5–6 March. Match v Stowe On 4 March there was a friendly against Stowe School. It was a lively occasion, though the home side perhaps fielded overly strong lineups. OFC A (Martin, Richard, Jonty) won 45-7; OFC B (Ben, Edmund, Alexander) won 45-25; OFC girls (Sophie, Hannah, Heloïse) won 45-17; OFC girls lost 30-35 against Stowe boys A. Nuno in Europe At the European cadet championships in Klagenfurt, Austria, on 1 March Nuno Esteves, representing Portugal, was placed 64th in the sabre. His very tough poule included an Italian, a Ukrainian, a Macedonian, a Frenchman, an Austrian—and a Brit! Nuno secured one victory, but not the second that would have taken him into the DE of 56. Great experience at a very high level. February 2011 Southern region foil At the southern region foil championships at Bradfield College on 20 February Jason Yuen took the silver medal and Martin Carter bronze; Mark Leech went out in the first round of DE, finishing 10th. In the age-group events Hannah Shaw was 3rd of 5 in the u18 girls and Edmund Cornforth 6th of 11 u16 boys; Harry Vaughan-Williams, won the boys' u12, with Alistair Cornforth in 8th place; Mia Biles fenced well in her first ever competition to finish 8th out of 11 u14 girls. Harry and Hannah will join Lydia Stanier and Heloïse Hardie, whose placings last year give them byes, in the British youth championships. Well done everyone! http://new.southernfencing.org.uk/results Sherwood LPJS foil At the Sherwood LPJS foil at Nottingham on 19 February Heloïse Hardie was 2nd in the u11 girls, losing 4-5 in the final. As there were only three u11 girls they joined the boys in the poules, where Heloïse beat 8 out of 10. Hampshire open Congratulations to Sam Hughes on taking the silver medal in the women's épée at the Hampshire open on 12 February, losing just 14-15 in the final. Sergey Skorokhodov was 18th in the men's foil. OFC v Swindon FC On 9 February no fewer than six OFC teams travelled to Swindon, where they received a most hospitable welcome. Swindon won five of the matches, mostly by a fairly narrow margin reflecting what a good match it was. The scores (OFC first) were: men's foil (Richard, Jason, Sergey) 39-45, women's foil (Izzy, Sophie, Fiona) 27-45, intermediate foil (Peter, Kevin, Philip) 38-43, junior foil (Alexander, Harry, Heloïse) 41-45, (mixed) épée (Will, Malcolm, Tim) 45-26, mixed sabre (Shaun, Andy, Sylvia) 43-45. See Sophie's photos. Challenge CEP - Marathon Fleuret 2011 Lydia Stanier fenced as part of the England squad in this competition held in Paris on February 5th. She finished a very creditable 123rd out of 260 entries in the minimes dames class. Rather frustratingly she was knocked out of the DE by a fellow England squad member - just like last year! Slough open At the Slough open on 5–6 February Nuno Esteves was 19th and Shaun Wood 31st in the men’s sabre; Katy Chzhen was 15th in the women’s sabre;Volker Lorenz was 40th, Will Knight 63rd, Shaun Wood 65th and Richard Booth 73rd in the men’s foil; Sam Hughes was 34th and Jasmine Sumeray 59th in the women’s épée. January 2011 Camden international cadet On the weekend on 29-30January Nuno Esteves represented Portugal in this important sabre competition on the European circuit. Nuno's father, Jorge, reports that in the idividual event on the Saturday 'Nuno managed to get through to the last 64. He went out to an American who finished 5th overall. Nuno finished 61 out of 106.' It can be added that Nuno finished top of those fencers representing Portugal.
On Sunday was the team competition. Jorge goes on to say; 'Nuno fenced for Portugal in the team event. Although they lost the three matches against Italy 'A', GB 'C' and Belgium, on average they scored 25 hits per match with Nuno scoring half of those. Good experience overall, but he's knackered...'
It's great to see an OFC fencer competing on the international stage and we wish Nuno well in future competitions at this level. Southern region age group épée and sabre At the regional youth championships at Newbury on 23 January Olly Stanier was 5th in the boys u18 épée. Alexander Hardie took the bronze medal in the u14 épée; unfortunately in his first DE bout he met Johannes Halbach, who was nudged down into 11th place. Luca Roth took bronze in the u12 boys épée (being knocked out of his semi-final by just one hit; 9-10). Lydia Stanier won the girls u14 épée, and like Alexander and Luca qualified for the British youth championships later this year. Jasmine Sumeray (representing Headington School) was 3rd in the girls u18 épée. In the sabre events Nuno Esteves was 1st out of 4 u16 boys, Cecelia Caffrey was 3rd of 3 u18 girls, Libby Caffrey 3rd of 3 u16 girls and Patrick Caffrey 3rd of 5 u14 boys; all qualified for the BYC. Well done everyone! Full results Kenilworth LPJS A the Kenilworth Leon Paul junior series events on 16 January; Lydia Stanier won the final of her first girls u15 event 15-5, Heloïse Hardie finished second out of five u11 girls and Alexander Hardie 12th out of 32 u13 boys.
Aldershot and Cambridge results At the Aldershot open on 9 January Sam Hughes came 11th in the women’s épée. At the Cambridge open on 16 January Nuno Esteves was 9th, Jorge Esteves 11th and Shaun Wood 19th in the sabre. December 2010 BBO Foil Rally This fun, Christmas-themed team event was held on 5 December. Martin Carter, Sophie Lamb and Bryan Kidd combined to come second in the field of nineteen teams. A super result! Martin handicapped himself, reducing his long reach by using the shortest size 0 foil. Despite this they won four of their five matches and were only beaten by the eventual winners 4-5. Elsewhere another OFC member Edmund Cornforth was fencing in his school team and came seventh. It was a tiring day but much enjoyed by all. The Foil Rally makes three competitions in one weekend attended by various OFC members. Newham LPJS foil Heloïse Hardie was 5th in the u11 girls foil in Newham on 5 December. This result means that she ranked a creditable 2nd overall in the championship. Meanwhile, Alexander Hardie finished 22nd of the 28 u13 boys after a couple of tough poules. Hereford & Worcester open Well done to Sam Hughes and Jorge Esteves for a couple of great results from the H&W open held at Dudley on 4-5 December. Sam was 12th out of 28 in the women's épée and Jorge 10th out of 34 in the men's sabre. OFC Pro-Am competition This event, held on 3 December, aimed to mix the recent beginners with the more experienced club fencers in a fun competition. Teams of three fencers of mixed abilities (generally experienced, intermediate and beginner) fought against each other in relays up to 15 hits. A total of eight teams entered. Posn Names (Exp/Int/Beg) Fights Victories Win Ratio 1) Richard / Edmund / Michael B 5 5 1.00 2) Johannes / Peter / Oscar 4 3 0.75 3) Philip / Gabriel / Toby Li 3 2 0.66 4) Mark Le / Michael F / Rosalba 4 2 0.50 5) Mark La / Alex F / Toby La 4 2 0.50 6) Alexander / Harry & Gavin / Daniel 3 1 0.33 7) Luca / Jason & James / Lukas 4 1 0.25 8) Heloïse / Paige / Olivia 5 0 0.00 This proved a remarkably successful format as the number of teams and the four pistes allowed almost constant fencing. Thanks to Ralph, Martin and Jonty for reffing and ensuring the event's free running. November 2010 BUCS At the British universities and colleges championship in Gloucester on 27 November Richard Booth came 39th out of 117 male foilists. southern region team competition The OFC u14 épée team consisting of Lydia Stanier, Johannes Halbach and Luca Roth won gold at this competition held at Aldershot on 21 November. Unfortunately the u19 foil team of Hannah Shaw and Edmund Cornforth (plus guest) didn't fare so well in their small but competitive field. Elsewhere in the competition, other OFC members fenced for their alternative club's teams or guested. Oli Stanier showed épée is in the family by winning silver in his Abingdon school u19 épée team. Harry Vaughan-Williams fencing for Dragon school, with Alexander Hardie guesting in the same team, finished just out of the medals with 4th place in the huge field of twelve u14 foil teams. Bath LPJS épée Lydia Stanier won the girls under-13 event held on November 14th. With this result she secured the overall championship victory. This is particularly impressive as she had already won the LPJS foil championship for her age group. Over the course of 2010 Lydia has scored a total of ten individual LPJS wins of the eleven events she has entered. BBO épée and sabre There were disappointingly few entrants to the BBO épée and sabre championships on 7 November, but several young OFC fencers took the opportunity to gain valuable competitive experience. To increase the number of fights different age-groups were sometimes mixed into a single poule. In his first competition, despite being by far the youngest in his épée poule of u14 boys and u16 girls, Luca Roth fenced impressively, in particular with lightning hits to the foot, against taller opponents to win 3 out of 6 fights. In his Direct Elimination fight he was clearly fencing much better than his opponent, especially on timing and point control, but this time his opponent's greater height and reach proved too much. He shows much promise as an epeeist and took a bronze medaI to reinforce this fact. Lydia Stanier showed her usual class and picked up the gold in the girls' u14 epee winning the final 10-1. In the sabre Patrick Caffrey, Libby Caffrey and Cecilia Caffrey fenced very determinedly in the poule; Patrick received gold as the sole u14 boy in the poule and Libby Caffrey was 2nd of the two u16 girls; Cecilia did well in the poule and gained a bye to the girls’ u18 final, where she could not overcome a more experienced opponent. In the men’s épée a sleep-deprived Mark Leech slumped to an uncharacteristic 11th place out of 13. Full Results Cambridge LPJS On 6 November Alexander Hardie was placed 14th in a field of 37 u13 boys and Heloïse Hardie 5th out of 9 u11 girls. The competition ran very late, Alexander's L16 fight didn't finish until 6pm which made for a very long day--more so for the more competitive fencers. October 2010 Coventry Open In the men's foil of this event held on 30-1 October Richard Booth and Jason Yuen finished 15th and 16th out of the field of 48. Both had tough poules results before moving up the field during the direct elimination. Meanwhile in the men's sabre; Nuno Esteves finished 9th and Jorge Esteves 11th out of the 33 entrants. Well done to all. Full Results Alençon veterans At the veterans' épée tournament at Alençon on 30 October Malcolm Allton was 6th in the men's event and Sylvia Brown 7th among the women. BBO foil championships Fifteen OFC fencers entered the Berks, Bucks & Oxon foil championships at Langley on 17 October, and came away with five gold, two silver and four bronze medals. In the men’s foil Sergey Skorokhodov was 2nd, Gordon Hardie and Jonty Haberfield joint 3rd, and Richard Booth 6th; in the boys’ u16 Edmund Cornforth was 2nd and Andrew Prescott 6th; the girls u14 was won by Lydia Stanier and the boys’ u14 by Alexander Hardie; Heloïse Hardie won the girls’ u12, with Paige Tierney in 3rd place; Paige also took gold as the only u10 girl in the event; Harry Vaughan-Williams won the boys’ u12, with Alisdair Cornforth 7th and Bryan Kidd 8th; in the boys’ u10 James Magé was 3rd and Michael Brozhko 5th. Congratulations to all our fencers on such a tremendous performance! Full Results BBO images Allstar open At the Allstar open in Walsall on 17 October Sam Hughes did well to finish 11th in a small but highly ranked field in the women's épée. OFC v RAL The foil match against Rutherford Appleton Laboratory FC on Tuesday 5 October provided a full and enjoyable evening of fencing. The strong OFC A team (Mark Leech, Will Knight, Alexander Hardie, Jonty Haberfield) won their match 12-4, while the OFC B team (Mark Lawrence, James Soper, Fiona Jefferson, Sophie Lamb), with two members who have been fencing for less than a year, performed really well to win 9-7. full results Sussex Open Many congratulations to Sam Hughes on taking third place at the Sussex open épée at Portslade on 2 October, 'My first ever medal!' full results British Cadet Epee Championship Jasmine Summeray finished a very creditable 38th out of 53 in this prestigious competition held at the EIS in Sheffield on October 2nd. full result September 2010 Bristol Open Sam Hughes was in action again at this large open competition on September 19th. Sam successfully fought her way through the 'first wave' to win a place in the 'second wave' poules. There all of her opponents were in the top 17 of the national rankings. Sam commented, 'It was just like being in the Nationals all over again!' She eventually finished a very creditable 69th place of the 90 women epeeists entered. Results Premier Foil Championship - Southampton Heloïse Hardie made a one-off appearance in this championship on September 19th, finishing 3rd in the field of six U11 girls. She very much enjoyed being back on the piste after the summer break. Manchester Cadet Sabre On September 18th Nuno Esteves finished 16th out of 47 in this prestigous competition. After the poules, Nuno was 24th with four victories and two defeats, but was only seperated from the fencer all the way up in 13th place by indicators. He was then victorious in two rounds of direct elimination 15-5 and 15-12 before being defeated 8-15 in the last sixteen. Results Essex Open Sam Hughes had a competitive day in Colchester on September 5th when she finished 22nd of the 50 women epeeists. Results July 2010 Norfolk open Will Knight made the trip to Norwich on July 17th to compete against 65 fellow foilists. He finished in a creditable 24th place. Much Wenlock olympics On 11 July the OFC u13 team of Lydia Stanier, Alexander Hardie and Heloïse Hardie finished 3rd out of 8, losing 36-45 to Glastonbury in the semi-final. In the qualifying poule, the OFC team beat Russell 45-16 and Headington 45-14 whilst losing to Glastonbury 27-41. Flora Todd also fenced, representing Headington. Will Knight finished 7th out of 21 in the men's foil, being defeated by the eventual winner.
OFC u14 foil Entry to the club under 14 foil event on 9 July was affected by the overlap with the delayed intermediate foil course. There was however a small but high-quality event, won by Alexander Hardie, with Edmund Cornforth in second place and Bryan Kidd and Ali Cornforth in joint 3rd place. West Midlands veterans' open Congratulations to Malcolm Allton on winning the men's épée at this event, held at Dudley on 3–4 July, to Jorge Esteves on taking 3rd place in the men's sabre and to Sylvia Brown on her 8th place in the women's sabre. For a full report see BVF newsletter. OFC pairs On 2 July our beginners and experienced fencers joined forces to have an enjoyable pairs competition. This time the pairing of Mark Lawrance and Martin Carter came away champions with four victories. With three victories came the pair of James Soper and Tania Lejeune, just two hits ahead of Philip Ashton-Rickardt and Will Knight, also with three victories. Thanks to all participants for a great evening. June 2010 BBO fencing picnic 25 pairs, mixed between clubs, competed at the BBO picnic at Bloxham on 27 June. Congratuations to Alexander Hardie on being half of the winning pair. Gordon Hardie and Michael Brozhko were 5th, Bryan Kidd's pair was 6th, James Magé's 11th and Heloïse Hardie's 14th. Another excellent performance in depth by our younger members. White Horse trophy Three OFC teams entered the White Horse three-weapon team competition at Abingdon on 27 June. OFC A (Will Knight, Sam Hughes, Nuno Esteves) were 5th, OFC B (Mark Leach, Volker Halbach, Jorge Esteves) were 6th, and OFC C (Tania Lejeune, Katarina Eklund,Tom Plant) 9th. Arnold epee LPJS Held at Blackpool on 27 June, there was no time to visit the beach as Lydia Stanier took third in this round of the Leon Paul Series. With three competitions on the same day, seventeen OFC fencers were in action simultaneously. OFC men's foil competition, 22 June 1) Will Knight 2) Ralph Evans 3=) Mark Leech 3=) Martin Carter 5) Gordon Hardie 6) Alexander Hardie 7) - 8) Danny Keyes 9) Nuno Esteves 10) Rupert Welply In the men's foil competition; epeeists and sabreurs joined in, making a great night's club fencing. Will reversed the result of the poule fight to edge out Ralph in the final 10-7 - upholding the foilists' honour in their own weapon. Will's L8 fight had been close, having been taken to 8-8 by Alexander before Will showed his experience to take the last two points. Thanks to all for making this such a fun event. Full results. England Youth Championships, 19/20 June On Saturday Lydia Stanier took gold in the girls' U13 epee and then on Sunday took gold in the girl's U13 foil. A truely outstanding achievement! In addition to the silverware, Lydia has gained automatic selection for the England squad to represent the country in the Paris foil and Warsaw epee events next year. Meanwhile, Heloïse Hardie was 5th in the girls' U11 foil, losing just 4-2 in her L8 fight after the full six minutes of fencing time. Alexander Hardie was 19th in the large field of 60 boys' U13 foilists and Harry Vaughan-Williams was 25th in the boys' U11 foil. For the sabreurs; Nuno Esteves was 9th in the boys' U15, Patrick Caffrey 9th in the boys' U13 (frustratingly being knocked out by somebody he had beaten in the poule) and Elizabeth Caffrey 6th in the girls' U15. Full results. London Open, 20 June Will Knight took 20th in the foil event. Despite the field being surprisingly small, only 35, a number of international fencers were participating, making the later rounds of the DE particulary tough. OFC women's foil competition, 15 June 1) Jin Ai Yap 2) Tracy Philips 3=) Tania Lejeune 3=) Katarina Eklund 5) Mary Lightbody 6) Fiona Jefferson In her final week before returning to New York, Jin Ai showed class to take overall victory. Tracy used her demon parry-riposte to good effect to take second. Tuesday-only fencers met Friday-only fencers for the first time while others were taking part in their very first competition. Thanks to various non-participating fencers for help with the refereeing. full results Bromsgrove Schools Challenge Lydia Stanier entered this event, held on June 13, and won both the U14 foil and the U14 epee competitions. Portsmouth LPJS On June 6th Lydia Stanier was again victorious in the girls' U13 foil event. That's now five victories from five in this chamionship for Lydia this season. OFC under 10 foil competition, 4 June 1) Heloïse Hardie 2) Harry Vaughan-Williams 3=) Ali Cornforth 3=) Michael Brozhko 5) James Magé Our young foilists battled it out on a very warm evening during the half term holiday. We saw some great fencing and everybody should be proud of their achievements. Well done! Thanks to Mark for reffing all night. full results Friendly v Oxford University Intermediates On June 1st there was a friendly three weapon relay match against the intermediates of Oxford University fencing club. The men's match started with Jonty Haberfield fencing the foil leg of the competition, though he found his opponent a little stronger and OUFC took a 13-10 lead. Then Jorge Esteves took over sabre duties and converted the deficit into a 30-26 OFC lead which Volker Halbach, fencing epee, stretched to a comfortable 45-33 victory for the home club. Meanwhile, the women's competition became a two weapon match when OUFC were unable to field an epeeist. Jin Ai Yap fenced foil and put OFC into an impressive 15-1 lead. This set up an incredibly close finish when Helen Williams found her sabre opponent able to outscore her during a well-fought, one hit victory for the uni women, 30-29. May 2010 Chichester Open On May 30 Sam Hughes finished 11th in the women's epee competition after losing to her nemesis in her last-16 match. British youth championships At the BYC in Telford on 23 May Heloïse Hardie, representing the southern region, was 3rd in the girls u10 foil. Another medal--many congratulations! Camden LPJS sabre At the Camden LPJS sabre on 16 May Cecilia Caffrey was 3rd in the u17 girls, Elizabeth Caffrey 8th in the u15 girls, Nuno Esteves 14th in the u15 boys and Patrick Caffrey 12th in the u13 boys. Sheffield open At the Sheffield open on 16 May Sam Hughes was 10th out of 32 in the women's épée and Will Knight was 31st out of 79 in the men's foil. Wrexham LPJS It was a double gold for OFC members in Wrexham on 5 May when Lydia Stanier won the u13 girl's and Heloïse Hardie won the u11 girls' foil events. Lydia's success came despite feeling under the weather at the beginning of the day. With four LPJS victories already this year, Lydia has an unassailable lead in the championship. In a surprisingly competitive u13 boys event Alexander Hardie won his first DE fight before losing to the 2nd seed. OFC sabre competition, 4 May 1) Mark Waddington 2) Nuno Esteves 3=) Jorge Esteves 3=) Gordon Hardie 5) Will Knight 6) Danny Keyes 7) Mark Leech 8) Jin Ai Yap 9) Helen Williams 10) Arthur Nichols The club sabre competition saw the regular sabreurs joined by a smattering of foilists. Laughably, the latter even needed to be shown how to dress for sabre before the nuances of sabre timings could be gamely explained by Jorge. In return the foilists were able to demonstrate remarkable quantities of beginners luck and, in a couple of cases, left-handedness to get them in among the regular sabreurs before experience held sway with a well deserved 15-12 victory by Mark W over Nuno in the final. Full Results British youth championships Five OFC members qualified for the British youth championships held at the English Institute of Sports in Sheffield on 1-3 May. With another outstanding performance Lydia Stanier won the girls' u14 foil (winning a cup engraved with previous winners' names dating back as far as 1961) and was 12th in the girls' u14 epee, while Jin Ai Yap was 31st in the girls' u16 foil, Patrick Caffrey 36th in the u14 boys' sabre, Dan Barnes 42nd in the boys' u16 foil and Alexander Hardie 53rd in the boys' u12 foil. Well done to all our fencers. April 2010 Friendly v Stowe School On Friday 30 April there was a junior foil match against Stowe School. The Stowe boys (supplemented by our own Oengus Mallett) won 6-2 against an OFC team of Edmund Cornforth, Alexander Hardie and Johannes Halbach, while our girls' team of Jin Ai Yap, Hannah Shaw and Tania Lejeune balanced this with a 7-2 win. Many thanks to James Kendall and Will Knight for refereeing. OFC épée competition, 27 April 1) Ralph Evans 2) Mark Leech 3=) Will Knight 3=) Volker Halbach 5) Joe Rogers 6) Oli Stanier 7) Tim Ryley 8) Kata Eklund 9) Martin Carter 10) Olly Bickley |
Ralph had a slow start to the evening's proceedings, only qualifying 5th in the poules round, but going on to beat Will 15-12 in the semi-final of the direct elimination and Mark 15-3 in the final. Will used his energetic foil style to qualify first but was eliminated by Ralph in their close L4 encounter. Volker produced the surprise of the competition in his first ever épée competition--he qualified last in the poules--but when it really counted proceeded all the way to the L4 of the DE, elimating the 2nd and 7th seeds on the way. Full results Warwick LPJS épée Lydia Stanier continued her great form in the LPJS épée series with another victory in the girls' U13 competition on April 25th. Oxford Veterans Mixed Sabre Jorge Esteves was 8th in the field of 21 veteran sabreurs held on April 17th. Senior Winton cup Sam Hughes represented the southern region as part of the women's épée team. Southern were only very narrowly beaten into third place among the eight regions participating. This competition was held over two days in the impressive EIS facility in Sheffield on 10-11 April. Birmingham international tournament At the Birmingham international tournament over the easter weekend Dan Barnes was placed 44th in the men's foil and Will Knight 65th. In the women's épée, where there was a strong overeas entry, especially from Italy, Sam Hughes was 68th. March 2010 Coventry sabre LPJS Nuno Esteves had a great day's fencing on 28 March when he came 6th out of a field of nineteen. Nuno lost his L8 fight 13-15 having led up to eight hits and then traded points all the way to 13-all before his opponent, the eventual competition winner, took the last two hits. Keele open This competition, held over the weekend of 27-8 March, is not as competitive as most other open events as the top 100 ranked fencers are asked not to enter. Jason Yeun entered both the épée and foil competitions with Mark Leech going in for just the épée. Jason emailed to say; I came 3rd in the foil on Sunday (they were not that generous on medals - we had to fence for the 3rd place as well). In the semi-final, it was 5-5 after the first bout, 9-9 after the second bout and 11-15 at the end. What a game! And here is Mark's epee report; Jason was a very good 7th in the epee, having won 6/8 in the poules. I watched his L32 fight which he won, looking relaxed and confident. Unfortunately I had a terrible day and only finished 27th. The competition was a step up from the Southern Regionals in terms of quality and size, but nowhere near as big and tough as a full-scale Open. It was also very friendly and pretty well organised - only one extended break between rounds. I would expect quite a lot of OFC fencers to be able to do well another year. Pairs competition On 26 March there was a very enjoyable foil competition in which members of this term's beginners class were paired with more experienced fencers. The event was won by Volker and Johannes Halbach, just ahead of Ali-Asghan Hamiduddin and Alexander Hardie, level on victories and indicators and separated only by hits scored. For full results see pairs results. Many thanks to Martin for refereeing all night long. Challenge Wratislavia In the u13 girls’ épée at the huge Challenge Wratislavia competition in Wrocław, Poland, on 25 March Lydia Stanier did fantastically well to take 13th place out of 131 entrants from 11 countries, the highest placed English girl in her age category. OFC v Abingdon On 23 March there was a lively friendly match between OFC and Abingdon FC (with a few OFC regulars fencing under their alternative AFC affiliation). The home foil team (Will Knight, Jason Yuen, Tim Wright, Janina Cordes) lost 5-11 to AFC (for whom Dan Barnes scored 4 victories) while the OFC épée squad (Mark Leech, Jasmine Sumeray, Tim Ryley, Ralph Evans) drew 8-8. The sabreurs completed a hybrid poule and then a relay in which an OFC team (Jon Leung, Clare Salter, Arthur Nichols, Tom Plant) lost 35-50 to an AFC team that included Jorge and Nuno Esteves. A good night's fencing all round! Invicta open At Canterbury on 21 March two OFC members entered the mens' foil. Will Knight was placed 29th after being knocked-out by an exceptionally tall Dutch fencer who was to go on to win a bronze medal. Meanwhile Jason Yeun was placed 45th when he lost his DE fight just 14-15. Eton LPJS Lydia Stanier continued her dominant form at arguably the most prestigious of LPJS rounds on March 21 when she won the girls' u13. Public schools fencing championships This three-day event benefitted from OFC participation when Jasmine Sumeray, representing Headington School, took part in all three weapons. The event was held at the famous Crystal Palace venue on 16-18 March. Jasmine finished 29th out of 63 in the girls' junior épée, being knocked out by the number 3 seed 10-15. She also finished 20th out of 44 in the foil and 22nd out of 38 in the sabre. A very creditable performance--well done! Southern region age-group teams The southern region age-group team competition on 7 March ended in some confusion as there was not enough time to complete the event; the u14 final has yet to take place. Our u18 foil team (Dan Barnes, Jin Ai Yap, with Jonathon Hegarty of Abingdon) was placed 2nd and our u14 foil team (Johannes Halbach, Edmund Cornforth, Alexander Hardie) was 10th out of the 15 teams entered. This was Johannes's very first competition and he made a valuable contribution to the team. Ben Worsfold, entered in a team with two non-OFC fencers only one of whom turned up, seized the opportunity of valuable competitive experience. Nottingham open At the Nottingham open on 7 March both Jorge and Nuno Esteves reached the last 32. Nuno was placed 24th and Jorge 25th, having lost to the eventual winner. February 2010 Ashton épée & foil LPJS Lydia Stanier had an outstanding weekend at Ashton on 27-28 February when on the Saturday she won the girls' u13 épée and followed that by winning the girls' u13 foil on the Sunday. Heloise Hardie won bronze, competing in a field of just three u11 girl foilists and Alexander Hardie was 10th in the u13 boys' foil. Hampshire open Dan Barnes had a character-building competition at the Hampshire on 20 February. He finished 44th in the men's foil after losing his first DE fight against an accurate hitting opponent. Sherwood foil LPJS On 13 February Heloïse Hardie won the Sherwood girls' u11 foil at Nottingham. As there were only 3 u11 girls they joined the u11 boys in the first round of poules, where Heloïse beat four out of five boys. Alexander Hardie finished 12th in the boys u13. His L16 fight was a repeat of his SR semi-final against Felix Sudderick. This time Alexander really made his opponent sweat and led for a while, before eventually being defeated 6-10. Slough open At the tough Slough open tournament on 6 February Dan Barnes exceeded all expectations by finishing 41st in the men's foil, before being knocked out by the eventual bronze medalist. Will Knight sustained a painful ankle injury in the second bout of his pool and was eliminated in a brave fight by the other bronze medalist, finishing 58th. Martin Carter was placed 72nd of the 92 starters after loosing 15-14 in a game which saw the control see-saw between each oppenent, even with Danny shouting from the sidelines! In the men's épée Oli Stanier was 66th in the huge field of 132. Meanwhile, in the women's épée Sam Hughes was 42nd and Kata Eklund, in her first senior competition, 86th of the 90 starters. In the men's sabre Nuno Esteves was 32nd and Jorge Esteves 33rd after an Esteves v Esteves L64 match. Paris CEP foil At the Paris CEP u15 foil on 6-7 February Lydia Stanier did remarkably well to achieve 40th place out of 186 girls despite being one of the youngest competitors. Lydia finished the fourth highest of the squad of ten English girls. GLL Camden international cadet sabre Nuno Esteves represented Portugal in this tough, high-level event. Unfortunately he had a poor result in his pool and finished 109th with only the top 100 qualifying for the remainder of the event. January 2010 Southern region championships Held at Reading on 31 January, Sam Hughes was 2nd in the women's épée (losing just 14-15 in the final); Will Knight and Jason Yuen shared 3rd place in the men's foil, with Martin Carter in 7th; Kata Eklund was 5th and Hannah Shaw 8th in the girls' u18; Dan Barnes was 2nd in the boys' u16 foil; Jin Ai Yap was 2nd and Jasmine Sumeray 3rd in the girls' u16; Lydia Stanier won the girls' u14 foil and Edmund Cornforth was 11th the boys' u14; Alexander Hardie was 3rd in the boys' u12 foil, and Heloïse Hardie was 6th in the girls' u12. These superb results have meant that five OFC members have qualified for the British Youth Championship in May. Well done to all. SeeSR photos. Here's Alexander's competition report: We arrived about 2pm. I got changed and waited for the poule. The poule was amazing. I won all my four fights. Then came the D.E ( Direct Eliminations ) round. I was confused, at first, because my name wasn’t on any of the score sheets, but this was only because I had a bye to the next round. On my first D.E fight I knocked my opponent out of the competition ( score 10-8 ). Then in the next round I beat my opponent again ( 10-3 ). On the next round ( the last four ) I got knocked by a boy called Felix ( 10-3 ), who eventually won the competition. Overall, I finished in joint third out of 23 fencers and got a bronze medal. Essex open At Colchester on 24 January, Sam Hughes did well to achieve 31st place out of 64 entrants in the women's épée. Sam is edging up the national rankings and was delighted to have beaten the fencer currently positioned 25th in her L64 bout. In a small but high-quality sabre event Jorge Esteves finished 15th, being eliminated by the eventual winner, while Nuno Esteves was 24th in the field of 28. Kenilworth LPJS foil On 17 January Lydia Stanier continued where she left off at the end of last year with her first win of the 2010 LPJS season in the girls' u13. She lost just three points in her first pool and continued that momentum all the way to victory. Heloïse Hardie took 2nd out of the three fencers in the girls' u11. Alexander Hardie came a solid 14th in the large field of 29 fencers in the boys' u13. BBO épée & sabre Also on 17 January Kata Eklund won the girls' u18 épée and Edmund Cornforth came second in the boys' u14 épée . This competition took place in Langley, Berkshire. Cambridge open Sam Hughes finished 11th in a field of 32 women épéeistes on 17 January. Jorge Esteves competed in the men's sabre, being beaten 15-13 in the L32 to finish in 17th place. December 2009Congratulations to Lydia Stanier on her selection for the England u15 foil squad for the Paris CEP marathon on 6-7 February. On 6 December OFC members had a very successful day at the BBO foil rally. Our top team, fencing under the nom d'escrime de The Foxford Papier Maché Squad finished second, just a flip of a coin (there was nothing else to seperate them) ahead of our next team Foily the Snowman in third. With four teams in total, OFC had the largest entry from any club and the results showed that we have quality in depth too. And, just for good measure, the Foxford squad snaffled the best dressed team award! BBO foil rally photos 2nd The Foxford Papier Maché Squad - Dan Barnes, Ben Worsfold, Alexander Hardie 3rd Foily the Snowman - Mark Leech, Jin Ai Yap, Bryan Kidd 8th Diamond - a Headington School team including Flora Todd 19th Spanglely Christmas Baubles - Janina Cordes, Edmund Cornforth plus guest 22nd The oX-Factor - Gordon Hardie, Heloïse Hardie, Gavin Tasker Lydia Stanier was 2nd in the Bath LPJS U13 girls' épée on 6 December. On 5 December Sam Hughes did well to finish 24th in the women's épée at the Hereford & Worcester open, losing just 14-15 in the last 32. Lydia Stanier won the U13 girls foil at the Newham LPJS and Dan Barnes finished 6th in a very strong field in the U15 boys foil on 5 December. Dan thus achieved his aim of finishing in the top 8 overall of the U15 boys foil championship. On Friday 4 December this term's beginners were paired with more experienced members of the club in a friendly pairs team competition. With 12 pairs taking part not all the matches could be completed, but the final ranking was topped by Kate MacIver and Mark Leech, just ahead (on a count of hits) of Tania Lejeune and Olly Bickley. Pairs Competition Result November 2009 Over the weekend of 29-30 November Sam Hughes competed in the London open épée. Sam writes: I only made 70th (I blame being half asleep and having an equipment malfunction which I only noticed on the Sunday) but I did compete in the teams and we came 2nd! It was my first ever medal! Yey! On 22 November Lydia Stanier won the U14 girls' épée at the southern region championships, confirming her qualification for this year's British youth championship. Jorge Esteves was 3rd in the men's sabre. Oli Stanier and Kata Eklund both finished 6th in the boys' and girls' U18 épée respectively. On the weekend of 14-15 November at the Welsh open Dan Barnes was 82nd in a field of 109 in the men's foil. Jorge Esteves finished 61st in the sabre, losing 15-7 to the eventual silver medalist in the L64. Meanwhile Nuno Esteves was 76th in the field of 84, having lost just 15-11 in the first round of the DE. Jorge reports; It was a difficult competition with a quite a few top 10 ranked fencers. Good experience anyway. On 10 November he club had a friendly team match for intermediate adults against the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory FC. Their 'intermediates' proved more competitive than OFC's with our A team defeated 3-6 and the B team going down 2-7. Using both pistes simultaneously, we managed to squeeze in a bonus match between OFC A and RALFC B, which we won 6-3. This was a very friendly match and was the first experience of competition for several OFC members. We hope to arrange more matches of a similar nature over the next few months. Thank you to Jonty Haberfield, Fiona Jefferson, Danny Keyes, Helen Williams, Ben Worsfold, Tim Wright and all the RALFC fencers for making it a great evening. Thanks too to our chairman for refereeing all evening. On 7 November at the Cambridge LPJS; Lydia Stanier missed out on winning the girl's U13 foil by just one hit when she met the championship leader in a hard-fought final and was beaten 10-9. Heloïse Hardie finished 5th out of 7 in the girl's U9 foil in her first LPJS competition. Alexander Hardie finished 14th in a strong field of 33 in the boy's U11 Foil. At the Coventry open sabre on 1 November; Nuno Esteves was placed 6th with Jorge Esteves 16th out of a field of 29. Jorge reports; Nuno fenced really well and finished the 2 rounds of poules in 4th with 10v and 2d. In the quarter finals he lost 15-12 (he came back from 3-8 down at half-time) to a cadet who is 15th in the national rankings. Congratulations to the combined Abingdon and OFC team who finished 3rd overall in the Wellesbourne team trophy on 1 November. Martin Carter competed in the men's foil with Sam Hughes and Kata Eklund being the full complement of women epeeistes in the combined team. Sam writes: Martin did really well even though he had a cold. Kata dropped just 3 fights and I dropped 2 ... in fact I was in the running for best WE and only lost on a couple of indicator points. October 2009 The weekend of 17-18 October was a very successful one of fencing for the Stanier family. Lydia Stanier won the girl's U13 épée at the Plymouth LPJS. Meanwhile, Lydia's brother Oli Stanier was 69th out of 115 at the Bedford open épée. OFC members had a super day at the BBO foil championship, on 18 October, winning a total of eight medals. In the girl's U10, Heloïse Hardie won gold (she was the only entrant!) and then proceded to win silver in the girl's U12 with her size 0 foil, 3" shorter than her opponents' size 3 foils! Alexander Hardie won gold in the boy's U12. Dan Barnes won gold in the boy's U16 and Ben Worsfold finished a character-building 5th. Edmund Cornforth won silver in the boy's U14 and Jin Ai Yap won silver in the girl's U16. In the men's competition, Mark Leech and Martin Carter won a bronze medal apiece with Gordon Hardie placed 6th. On 10-11 October, at the Allstar cup, Stratford-upon-Avon (formerly the Leicester open), Sam Hughes was 23rd in a field of 39 in the women's épée. Jorge Esteves finished 30th and Nuno Esteves 32nd out of 53 participants in the Men's Sabre. Jorge writes: In the last 64 Nuno won 15-11 and I won 15-5. In the last 32, Nuno lost 15-11 to the guy who finished 6th and I lost 15-5 to the winner. On the whole, a good day On 10 October, at the Camden LPJS foil, Dan Barnes was 5th in the boys u15. On 3 October, at the Sussex open women's épée; Sam Hughes was placed an impressive 7th in a field of 34, being knocked out of the quarter final 15-13 by an opponent who was to go on to win the silver medal. On 3 October at the Sheffield men's cadet foil (U17) Dan Barnes was placed 52nd in a field of 78. September 2009 On 26 September, at the Manchester cadet tournament; Nuno Esteves was placed 61st in the men's sabre, having come up against an eventual semi-finalist in the first round of the DE. On 20 September, at the Bristol open; Sam Hughes battled a huge field of 127, and a temperamental spool, to finish 84th in the women's épée competition. On 19-20 September, at the Amberton (Leicestershire) LPJS foil, Lydia Stanier qualified second and finished 3rd in the girl's U13, after her opponent craftily ran her out of time in the semi-final. Dan Barnes finished 6th in the small, but England-stripe laden, field of the boy's U15. Alexander Hardie finished 8th out of 22 in the boy's U11, having failed to reach the semi-final by just one hit. July 2009 On 12th July at the 123rd Much Wenlock Olympian games men's foil championship Dan Barnes was 3rd, 7th Martin Carter 7th and Mark Leech 8th out of 25 competitors. In addition, Lydia Stanier was a member of a team of three U13 foilists who won their competition. Well done to all. Mark reports: Dan had an absolutely fantastic day, winning 6/8 in the poules and giving the eventual winner a hard run in the L4. Martin and I were waylaid by a diversion on the way to the venue and didn't have time to warm up before fencing started (I am still in pain!). We didn't have great poules, but got through easy first D/Es (15-2 to me; 15-3 to Martin) to face the no.2 and 5 seeds respectively in the second round. Lots of complaining about the refereeing ensued when we took leads (my opponent may have been right about who had right of way, as I was ducking his fleches to my shoulder and counter-attacking, but seemed to have forgotten that he had to hit me to get the point - the fact that only my light kept coming up seemed not to have reached him). Anyway, we both got through, just about. Martin narrowly lost his L8 fight against a fencer with England stripes, and I lost 14-15 to Dan (grrrr), who was continuing his amazing form. Dan's semi was close until the final few hits, when the other chap got the right distance for his flicks to the chest. It was a well organised competition, with very little waiting around. Despite the moaning from the top fencers (even when they won in some cases!) it was friendly too. There were definitely enough good fights to make it a fine day out. More Oxford fencers next year?
June 2009 On 28 June at the White Horse trophy competition held at Abingdon (an adult three weapon team competition); Oxford A - Martin Carter (F), Nuno Esteves (S), Edouard Beaumont (an epeeist from Abingdon FC) came third, being knocked out in the last four by Abingdon B.
Oxford B - Paddy Ford (F), Mark Leech (E), Richard Wharton (a sabreur from Abingdon FC) came 13th out of 15, being knocked out by Saxon A in the first round of D/E.
A very hot but excellent day's fencing. The standard was high, so Oxford A's performance was impressive.
On 27-8 June at the English youth championships Lydia Stanier was placed 5th out of 24 in the U13 epee and 9th out of 42 in the U13 foil; Nuno Esteves was placed 8th out of 23 in the U15 sabre; Dan Barnes was placed 17th out of 52 in the U15 foil; Alexander Hardie was placed 20th out of 59 in the U11 foil On 21-3 June at the Mediterranean champioships in Lisbon Nuno Esteves represented Portugal in the individual cadet and junior sabre events and junior three-weapon team competition. Nuno came 7th in both the cadet and junior sabre events. On 21 June at the BBO fencing picnic Gordon and Heloïse Hardie came 4th, Ben Worsfold's pair was 5th, Dan Barnes's 6th and Alexander Hardie's 17th. On 6-7 June at the LPJS Portsmouth and Southsea foil, Lydia Stanier came 3rd in the U13 girls and Alexander Hardie 5th in the U11 boys. May 2009 On 31 May at the Oxfam open, Daniel Barnes came 18th in the foil event. On 31 May at the LPJS Haverstock epee, Lydia Stanier came 2nd in the U13 girls. On 31 May at the Hertfordshire open sabre, Jorge Esteves finished 53rd and Nuno Esteves came 65th. On 17 May at the LPJS Camden sabre, Nuno Esteves came 8th in the U15 boys. On 15 May at the Oxford Fencing Club u14 foil competition, Alexander Hardie came first, Max Rutter second, Ben Worsfold third and James du Buisson fourth. On 10 May at the Winterfold Challenge, Alexander Hardie came 5th in the U12 foil. On 9 May at the LPJS Wrexham foil, Daniel Barnes came 3rd in the U15 boys and Lydia Stanier came 3rd in the U13 girls. On 8 May at the Oxford Fencing Club u10 foil competition Bryan Kidd came first and Heloise Hardie second. On 3 May at the 1st Open European youth championships in Klagenfurt, Austria, Nuno Esteves (representing Portugal) finished 9th in u14 boys sabre.
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