South East Regional Epee and Sabre
Skipper Paul Lowen took second place in the South East Regional Epee Championships in Canterbury and Adrian Medhurst took third in the Sabre. It was a fine return for the club and an excellent turn out, Saxon putting out seven fencers in total.
In the Men’s epee, Saxon fielded three fencers. Lewis Bassett-Butt, after a frenzied search for someone to lend him some fencing sock to allow him compete, won two of his six pool matches to earn himself a place in the first elimination round – and once there, he used his full reach against a smaller opponent to comfortably take his first ever elimination win in competition. Lewis, a decent chap, expressed some remorse at having bullied the smaller, younger fencer, but Grant who as meany of you remember has bitter experiences of battling diminutive youths, reassured him that it was far better than the alternative. Lewis went out honourably in the last 16, losing 15-10 to a strong opponent, and coincidentally the lender of his socks.
More experienced fencers, Paul Lowen and Grant Smith both had strong pools, winning six and four of their bouts respectively. Both earned byes to the last 16 and both won their bouts easily, but found themselves drawn against each other in the quarter final finals.
With a semi-final place guaranteed for one Saxon fencer, the two fencers fought their first to 15 bout. Paul, showing his habitual “south-paw” awkwardness took a large early lead and it looked like it would be a humiliating stuffing for the younger epeeist. Grant then started mixing up his tactics, fleching, fienting and putting in one lovely foot hit and pulled back to 13-13, before Lowen kept his head to take the final two points.
Lowen is a specialist with the foil, the lighter thrusting weapon with a limited target area and subtly different tactics. He is a British veteran champion and member of the Great Britain Veteran team in the discipline.
Although less practiced with an epee, he still won a semi final which the Ealing Gazette described as “tenaciously fought”, but “torturous” may have been more apt against another fencer of similar vintage. He ground out the win however to earn his final place against reigning World Veteran Epee Champion, Ralph Johnson.
Paul fought with his usual grit and skill, but he lacked Johnson’s technique and tactical acumen at epee, and the Ealing man went down 15-5 to take the runner-up slot.
In the women’s epee, in a field of 12, Catherine De Graca had a strong pool, winning three from five, but then had a disappointing bout in the first elimination round, going down to a heavy defeat.
In the men’s sabre, the elegant young Simon Whitaker and the less elegant, less young Adrian Medhurst, were amongst the 21 fencers.Both had strong pools and after byes through the first round, won their next bouts with panache.
Once again this meant that two Saxons faced each other in a quarter-final. After close early exchanges, Simon pulled away with his trademark cuts to the wrist, but Adrian dug deep and with a late surge, passed Simon to earn his semi-final place with a series of fast attacks.
Adrian was outclassed in his semi-final, going out to a superior fencer, but can be delighted with his shared third place.
Leave a Reply
- November 2024
- September 2024
- March 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- September 2023
- June 2023
- March 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- January 2022
- September 2021
- August 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- November 2020
- October 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- September 2019
- May 2019
- March 2019
- November 2018
- October 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- September 2017
- August 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- November 2016
- October 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- September 2015
- July 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- September 2009
- July 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- August 2007
- September 2002
- September 2000
Categories
- Beginner Sign Up (3)
- Notice Board (21)
- Saxon Fencing Competitions (250)
- Selections (16)
- Social (3)
- Training Announcements (3)
- Uncategorized (21)