RGS Fencers success at the Public Schools’ Championships
Last week seven fencers travelled to Crystal Palace Sport Arena for the Public Schools’ Fencing Championships where several hundred competitors fence on each of three days. On the Tuesday, Abi Watkins from Year Nine fenced in the Mount-Haes Girls' Foil and our Year Eight Boys (Jon Edgson, Tom Ehlers, Tom Hislop, Will Osborne and Ben Wastie) competed in the Mount-Haes Boys' Epee. The boys started first and, by the end of Round One, Will had won all the fights in his pool, while Tom Ehlers and Ben Wastie had also done enough in their pools to win through to Round Two. Jon Edgson was very unlucky, coming up against tall left-handers and despite winning one of his fights was narrowly squeezed out of the cut. Tom Hislop fenced well, but up against more experienced competition also went out.
In Round Two, while WIll and Tom managed to progress to the last 32, Ben was unable to join them and finished in 64th place. Tom came up against the number seven seed and was beaten 15-9. He finished in 23rd place. Will fared better and progressed to the last 16; however, he came up against the number six seed in the last 16 and had a huge challenge. With the RGS team all shouting in support ,Will came close to winning but sadly lost the fight 15-14. He finished 13th out of the 94 competitors.
Meanwhile, Abi had started in the Girls' competition with 60 other competitors. She won all the fights in both her pools, losing few points in either and so got a bye in the direct elimination stage through to the last 32. Here her expertise as an epeeist told against her and she was knocked out 15-14. However, her excellence earlier in the day still meant she finished 17th.
Danielle Lawson had opted not to fence foil. Instead she refereed for the whole day doing an excellent job throughout.
On Wednesday, the girls came into their own, fencing the epee which is their preferred weapon. Two rounds of pools, in which she won all her fights, left Abi as the 2nd seed out of 56 competitors. However, Abi has been fighting with a size five epee (90 cm) whereas the Mount-Haes requires a size two (82.5 cm). Sadly Abi was beaten 15-14, finishing 5th overall. Given two days of tiring fencing in a very hot and humid venue, this was an excellent result.
Danielle was the reigning Champion in the Senior Epee and so had everything to prove against the other 45 girls competing. She won all the fights in both her pools, going through to direct elimination seeded 2nd. After a tense Semi-Final, Danielle had no intention of yielding her crown in the Final and won 15-5. Once again, Danielle is the Senior Girls' Epee Champion at the Public Schools.
Congratulations to all competitors. They were a credit to the School throughout and while this is sadly Danielle's last year it is good to see strong fencers coming through to carry the good name of RGS Worcester in the fencing world.
Dr Phil Ehlers – Head of Sixth Form
