Lancaster won both the Men’s and the Women’s fencing to add a further 8 points to their Roses tally. The women’s win was all the more impressive due to the fact that Lancaster is only in the Northern conference in comparison to York who are in the Premier league of women’s fencing.
The women’s fencing began with the Foil. They began brightly by taking an early 25-16 lead. However York were resilient and fought back in just one three minute bout to take the lead 29 to 26.
It was a match full of twists and turns and as soon as York had got back into it, Cat Clutterbuck took Lancaster into a 35-30 lead. Lancaster then continued in this fine form and secured a win in the first weapon 45-36.
Lancaster were surpassing all expectations and dominated right from the outset of the Sabre winning all but one of the nine bouts to secure a 45-21 win, and put Lancaster within 13 points of victory.
In Epee, the final weapon of the day was an extremely tense encounter, with Lancaster struggling to begin with, but gradually regaining their composure, and edging closer to victory. It was Birte Schulz who secured the vital 13th point of the weapon, to secure the win and the points for Lancaster, with attention immediately switching to the Men’s match that had begun over the other side of the hall, only a few moments earlier.
Lancaster ultimately lost the Epee 45-43; however this result was unimportant as Lancaster had already won the overall Match.
Club Secretary Cat Clutterbuck spoke to SCAN following the match. She said: “I’m extremely happy with the result and I am proud of the team, we will certainly be having champagne tonight.”
In the Men’s fencing, Lancaster got off to a very shaky start, going 20-10 behind after the initial four bouts. Lancaster managed to pull it back to 40-34, with just one bout remaining in the Sabre. However they still had every chance of winning the whole match.
What happened next was a mini-miracle, as Lancaster were looking to minimise the deficit going into the final two weapons, Chris Dain had other ideas, he grabbed the bull by the horns, and with an excellent display of fencing won the final bout 11-3, to win the Sabre 45-43 for Lancaster, a feat which at one stage seemed almost impossible.
The second weapon in the Men’s fencing was the Foil which Lancaster dominated right from the very start. Captain Seb Wysk won the third bout of the Foil 6-1, taking Lancaster into a 15-11 lead.
Next came some outrageous, unorthodox and amazing exhibitions of fencing, with Lancaster Fencing President, Aaron Gardner, hitting his opponent on two occasions through his own legs. This came before Wysk won his second bout in the foil 5-0, with the fifth and final point of the bout coming from him jumping over his opponents attack and then hitting him on the back.
Both of these moves seem to be rather unorthodox trademarks of two of the most creative fencers in the team. Wysk saw out the victory for Lancaster in the Foil, in what was a very tense encounter, seeing Lancaster win 45-40, leading by seven points going into the final weapon of the day.
Lancaster were fantastic in the Epee, taking control of the match right from the very start, with Chris Clark as the stand out performer, not only because he was the person to clinch the vital point for Lancaster, but courtesy of winning numerous points while giving very few away to his opponents.
Lancaster won all but one of the bouts in Epee, and secured a 45-27 win, seeing Lancaster Men’s fencing team whitewash their opponents winning all three of the weapons.
