I hope that you have had a successful and enjoyable fencing season.
This year, we held two beginners courses and introduced 32 people to the sport. We have welcomed 15 new members to the club either graduating from our beginners courses or joining from elsewhere. What’s especially great is that our Friday sessions regularly have more than 35 attendees, which is much higher than it’s been historically.
Congratulations to Mark Leech, who is our 2018 Master-at-Arms. Mark fenced in all three club competitions, and managed to reach the finals of the foil, semi-finals of the epee and sabre. This high standard of consistency means that he wins the handsome Ralph Evans trophy as our most successful member in the club competitions.
As in previous years, our summer training sessions will move to Radley College sports centre from Tuesday 3rd July. Please note that there will only be Tuesday sessions from 8pm to 10pm, no Fridays. The final session at Radley will be Tuesday 14th August, and we return to regular Tuesday and Friday sessions at Rye St. Antony in Headington from Tuesday 21st August.
If you don’t own your own kit, please arrange with a committee member to take away a jacket, mask and plastron for the summer before Friday 29th June since we will only take electric boxes and weapons to Radley. See below for directions.
This Tuesday (27 March), we welcomed the university pentathlon teams for a friendly match ahead of their varsity match against Cambridge next week.
We fenced a modified version of one-hit Epee in teams of three up to three points. This was great fun, and it was really good to have some different fencers (and a new format) to spice things up. Good luck to the pentathletes for their match, and we hope you’ll come to train with us again soon!
Several club-members competed in the Southern Region qualifier for the GB cup last weekend (11th February 2018).
The Ladies Epee was combined with the Mens for the poules because there were not sufficient entries to run it as an individual competition. Anne finished second after a final where she adapted her fencing to counter her experienced opponent but wasn’t quite able to capitalize.
The Mens foil medal table was dominated by Oxford fencers, with Mark (3rd), Martin (2nd) and Shaz (1st). Martin’s semi-final against Mark and final against Shaz were two very-close matches on account of how well they all knew each other.
The Mens Epee was the largest event of the day, and Tim managed to finish 2nd following a close final. Cas and Tim met in the quarter-finals and fenced a close match that was even until 13-13 when Tim managed to pull ahead.
Well done to Anne, Shaz, Martin, and Tim, who have qualified for the GB Cup finals in June.
Well done to Eunmin, Tony, Caryl, Anne, Martin and Alasdair who were our valiant teams in the Town and Gown last weekend. It was a close match, but we were narrowly defeated by the university teams. 
Southern Region have announced their BYC qualifiers for this year. Details below
When: Sunday 21st January 2018
Venue: Wellington College, Duke’s Ride, Crowthorne RG45 7PU
The OFC team at Alice Ruggles Memorial Épée team competition.
We didn’t win a prize but we didn’t get the wooden spoon either! Good day of fencing with support from Malcolm.
Rye have cancelled our club session on Tuesday 12th December on account of the snowy weather. Our next (and final) session before Christmas is on Tuesday 19th December.
The Berks, Bucks and Oxon Foil Rally is being held on Sunday 3rd December at Langley Grammar School. Entries will be via the Sport:80 website.
This is a fun, team event aimed at junior fencers.
Last year, our team managed an excellent third place, and will be delighted to tell you how much fun it was. If you’d like to take part and are struggling to find a team, please let the committee know and we’ll try to hook you up with some team-mates.
