2010

The Presidents Cup, 28th November 2010

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Sutton Coldfield Fencing Club sent forth two teams for the Presidents Cup, a regional mixed weapon competition, and managed to carry away 1st place against eight other regional; teams:

Team A : Beth Stanton (Foil), Ben Phillips (Epee), Terry Stanton (Sabre)
Team B : Gavin Rudge (Foil) Charles Benk (Epee) David Cox (Sabre)

Gongs: First Place – Team B, Angela Roberts Trophy: Julie Foster

Team B won the competition with the team working well together and beating all opposition that came their way, including a 15-0 thrashing of one of the BFC teams. This was a vindication for all the hard work and training drills that the fencing club has put in over the year.

Team A also performed strongly winning four encounters. Beth Stanton competed in her first competition as a foillist, and Ben Phillips pulled off the best feat in the competition by bringing the team back from an 8 point deficit to win their final match.

Julie Foster as the highest ranked female foillist in the competition won the regional Angela Roberts Trophy, an honour that she is no stranger to.

This is an excellent result for the end of the year and we hope that 2011 will bring us more silverware.

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Crystal Open 2010

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Sutton Coldfield was represented by three teams this year in the crystal open, a regional mixed weapon competition:

Team A ;Badgers:Gianfranco Muresu (Foil), Ian Bullock (Epee), Dave Cox (Sabre)
Team B ;Scoundrels: Gavin Rudge (Foil) Ben Phillips (Epee) Terry Stanton (Sabre)
Team C ;Dreaming: Julie Foster (Foil) Martin Simpson (Epee) David Swan (Sabre)

GoTeam Angs: Third Place- Team A

Highlights: All the teams fought really well with the abilities shining through throughout the day. Even so some mentions must be made for some exceptional performances.

David Swan fought brilliantly in sabre considering he had not slept night due to unforeseen circumstances. To turn up was great; to perform as he did winning more than half his fights was even better, even if he was standing on caffeine and adrenaline.

Gavin Rudge came out of the initial pools ranked third and pulled off the only victory against the strongest fencer in the competition FIE ranked David Alexander, who had it not been for Suttons most mischievous fencer, would have walked away with the best foilist title without dropping a fight. Gavin has been working for a long time for many years on how to win bouts to five points, and its seems to be working.

Julie Foster and David Cox provided brilliant examples of how in team fencing the last fencer nearly always has to battle to the last, providing nail biting finales to assaults.

The silverware this time came from team A:Badgers; who lost the aptly named Stourbridge ‘Squirrels’, long time rivals of Sutton. After very tightly fought epee and foil bouts the score line was a mere 4-9 lead for Sutton after twenty minutes; (maximum score line could have been 19-19). In the end David Cox faced a long and arduous fight to 30 Points against GB veteran sabreur Steve Potter, with Sutton narrowly losing 24-27.

Next Time Squirrels, next time!

Senior Regional Championships 2010

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Mens Foil: Gavin Rudge, Gianfranco Muresu, Charles Benke
Mens Sabre: Dave Cox, Terry Stanton

Gongs: Silver (Men’s Foil); Plate

Hightlights: In sabre both Dave and Terry gave a good account of themselves, against stiff opposition. In men’s foil both Gavin and Charles fought well in the foil competition with Gavin coming ranking second out of the pools. He had the misfortune to come across his fellow club member Gianfranco in the quarter final, where he narrowly lost in a fierce if cagey bout 15-13 after taking the lead for most of the match. Charles too went out in the quarter finals but rallied to win the later the plate competition. Gianfranco fought his way to the final but he was unable to retain his championship title from 2008 (2009 he was injured with a fractured toe) where he eventually lost to Richard Morris from Team Melia 15-7 in an energetic fight.