Keeping our guard up!

B

oth the men’s and women’s 2nds started their season in the best possible way, albeit in different circumstances. The women’s 2nds started their league off against Royal Holloway, kicking off with épée. The team was off to a flying start with the final score 45-42 to Imperial. Next up was sabre. Despite a severe lack of experience and by a stroke of brilliance the team did markedly better in sabre than they had in épée, finishing 45-39. Royal Holloway learnt the hard way that the best way to trigger aggression in a sabreur is to make then believe their opponent has stolen all their food. Foil was a little shakier, going into the final bout 19-40. The final fencer was Ginevra; an épéeist at heart but after this performance she may want to reconsider! Point after point, parry after parry Ginevra scored, clawing Imperial’s score up to 38 and doubling the team’s effort up to that stage. Imperial supporters cheered on Ginevra as she exceeded all expectations and delivered the most spectacular comeback seen by the team in living memory. Despite losing foil, the women’s 2nds won the match overall, with an accumulative score of 128-126, starting off the year with a win.

The men’s 2nds, already riding high off their first win of the year (also against Royal Holloway), were fencing Portsmouth. The men wasted no time in the first weapon, foil, where they won comfortably with a score of 45-26. Next up was sabre where the score ended 45-17 to Imperial, meaning we could have scored no points in epee and still won the match. Luckily epee kept up this streak winning 45-29, giving an overall score of 135-73, meaning the men’s 2nds matches have all been won on average by an impressive margin of over 50! Finally, over the weekend three Imperial fencers competed in the prestigious Elite Épée. Out of 83, Jamie Simpson finished 24th, James Odgers came 15th and Harry Peck earned himself a bronze medal. This surely signals the start of great things for IC Fencing.