Over the weekend, Dublin University Fencing Club (DUFC) maintained its excellent start to the season. Competing at the Irish Fencing Intermediates held at University College Dublin (UCD), the club brought home one gold and two bronze medals from three of the six disciplines, remaining on track to maintain its reputation as one of the most successful teams on campus.
In September, the club enjoyed success at the National Club Championships before claiming two silver medals and one bronze medal at the South of Ireland Open three weekends ago. It is clear, then, that the summer break has done little to dissipate DUFC’s momentum.
Held early in the academic year, the Irish Intermediates are an excellent opportunity for new fencers to try out their budding skills. Competing in the men’s foil, new club member Elliot Schneier came away with a gold medal, defeating UCD’s Andrew Whyte after an outstanding first competitive performance. However, not to be outdone, the women also returned two medals of their own, with bronze medals coming from Bethany Rush and Leah McHugh in the women’s sabre and women’s foil respectively.
As Women’s Captain Manon Nouvian commented, speaking to The University Times by email: “Intermediates is always a great competition for experience. We were very happy to see so many of our fencers, and especially our novices compete this weekend. We hope they have all taken something from the day that they can focus on in the coming weeks.”
Whilst fielding 37 competitors across the six weapons showed the strength and depth DUFC possesses, it also meant club members frequently met each other in direct elimination matches. As Nouvian pointed out, “throughout the weekend, our fencers showed excellent poule performances across the six weapons, and it was very unfortunate how often they met each other in direct elimination matches. However, we are very happy with the results we have seen from all our members, especially our novices”.
Whilst DUFC’s medal haul at the intermediates this year is down from last, its achievement is still an excellent showing of the new talent recruited in the last few weeks. The club’s next taste of competitive action will come in two weeks time as it bids to continue its success at the West of Ireland Open over the Halloween weekend.
Correction: 16:27, October 17th, 2017
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Manon Nouivian is the DUFC Club Captain. In fact, she is the women’s captain.
An earlier version of this article misspelled Manon Nouvian’s name.
