July 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. Results
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. full results
June
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) Olly Bickley 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.
For earlier competion results see competition archive.