On Sunday 30th June, we held the 2019 club championship! This year we had a particularly good turn out for both fencers and their family/friends. We started the day with sabre, followed by épée and foil. Apart from the printer ink running out (and having to draw the remaining poule sheets and tableaux by hand), the day was a huge success and everyone enjoyed the fencing, BBQ, and home-brewed ale.

Results

Sabre:
Gold – Adrian Griffin
Silver – Rick Carstens
Bronze – Ian Brown & Tony Bardell
Detailed sabre results

Épée:
Gold – Peter Moore
Silver – Ian Brown
Bronze – Rick Carstens & Michael Lown
Detailed épée results

Foil:
Gold – Adrian Griffin
Silver – Florent Boyer
Bronze – Mike Ellis & Joe Wright
Detailed foil results

Master at arms AND best novice: Rick Carstens

On Wednesday we hosted Milton Keynes at home for a Three Counties League match. We won foil 8 matches to 1, and épée 5 matches to 4.

On Thursday, we had our away match against St. Albans. We won foil 5 matches to 4, but conceded épée 3 matches to 6. Well done to all who fenced!

The first set of beginners of 2018 have completed their course, passed their exam and were awarded their graduation certificates. Congratulations all! We hope you enjoyed the course and will continue to fence as part of the Watford family.

Despite our previous announcement that Watford came second overall in the Three Counties League, after a correction to the scores, we actually came out on top! Congratulations to everyone who fenced!

Watford won medals galore last weekend at the Herts Team Championship  competition in Hatfield. We entered two teams for foil and one team for épée, and all three teams won a medal!

In foil, Watford A team (made up of Florent, Michael, and Joe) won silver, and Watford B team (made up of Mike, Markos and Hefin) won bronze.

Our épée team (made up of Peter, Robert and Jonathan) took home the gold!

This weekend saw 2018’s Herts Senior Individual Championship for all three weapons. Our very own Florent Boyer won silver in foil, and Watford alumnus Ollie Smith won bronze in foil. Well done to everyone who competed!

In our first Three Counties League match of 2018, we won at home against Luton, 7 to 2 in foil, and 5 to 4 in épée! This was a great way to start the season; well done all who fenced!

The final results of this season’s Three Counties League are in and, as usual, Watford put on a stellar performance although, like last year, we fell just short of securing an overall victory.

We came first for foil, winning all but one of our team matches overall, and fourth in épée, winning 5 of our team matches and losing 4. This meant that we came second overall for the whole league!

Well done to everyone who fenced for us, and to all the other teams who competed. We will look forward to regrouping and improving on this result this year!

Our very own Peter Moore won the Silver medal in the U18 épée at the Eastern Region Youth Championships on the 28th of January! He has now qualified for the British Youth Championships in Sheffield in May.  Well done Peter, we’re all very proud of you!

Last weekend the club hosted this year’s Club Championship, which was another huge success. The event, which coincides with the club’s 60th anniversary, included a hog roast and a competition for all three weapons.

Results

Foil:
Gold – Michael
Silver – Florent
Bronze – Lajos and Joe
Best novice – Kirstie

Épée:
Gold – Philip
Silver – Peter
Bronze – Geoff and Ollie

Sabre:
Gold – Tony
Silver – Ollie
Bronze – Jonathan and Michael

Master at arms:
Michael

Here are some more photos from the day, courtesy of Mike Ellis.