Success and Experience Gained at the Public Schools’ Fencing Championships
The Public Schools’ Fencing Championships is the largest Fencing event in the country, taking place over three days at the Lea Valley Athletics Centre. RGS entered six fencers in four of the events, joining over 500 other fencers for the competition.
We started early, leaving School at 5.15am for the three-and-a-half-hour journey down to London. First to start were Matthew Fallows and Joseph Kington in the Senior Boys Épée, with Ethan Leese and Sean Yang next in the Mount-Haes Boys Foil (for pupils in Year Nine and below). The two girls, Issy Pottinger in the Junior Girls Épée and Emily De Bono in the Mount-Haes Girls’ Épée had a later start.
The older boys both had a good first round of poules in a field of 122 fencers. Joseph finished in the top 20% of the field and so earned automatic entry to the Direct Elimination (DE) rounds. Matthew just missed this cut and so fenced again in the second round of poules, where he had some very narrow losses that prevented him from progressing to the final rounds. He finished 86th, which is a very creditable result. Joseph had a bye through the first round of DE, followed by a very close match, which he won 15-14. He was knocked out in the round of 32, finishing in 26th place nationally.
The two younger boys found the competition more difficult, both losing in their first round of poules. However, their Fencing was improving over the course of the morning, and they went into their second round of poules with renewed vigour. The competition remained challenging, but both boys fenced well, with Ethan gaining some very close losses and Sean managing a good win against his final opponent. In a field of 101 fencers, Sean finished 79th and Ethan 88th; well done to them both.
Starting later, the girls both did well in their first-round poules, but not well enough to earn an automatic place in the Direct Elimination rounds. Both won all their matches in the second round of poules and went through to the Direct Elimination rounds well placed. Issy (seeded 16th) had a bye through the round of 64 and a very comfortable win over the 17th seed in the last 32. She then had a very close match against the top seed, losing 15-14. She finished 13th from a field of 72. Emily (seeded 20th) had relatively straightforward wins against the 45th seed in the last 64 and against the 14th seed in the last 32. She then beat the 4th seed relatively comfortably in the last 16, earning her a place in the last 8. In a very close (and loudly supported) match against the 12th seed, Emily lost out on a place in the semi-finals 10-9, and finished 8th out of a field of 80, which earned her a medal.
Altogether, this was an excellent day’s Fencing from all the fencers!
Dr Philip Ehlers, Senior Teacher & Head of Fencing
