Sullivan Upper Fencing Club hosted the 4th round of the 2023/24 NI Junior Foil Series on Sunday 4th of February in the School Sports Hall. A record 29 SU fencers took part across U12, U14 and U16 age groups, 13 of whom were year 8 or 9 beginners in their first competition. In total SU fencers won 17 medals, 5 gold, 4 silver and 8 bronze, with just under half of these awards won by our beginners.
U12s
The girls’U12 event was dominated by SU beginners with Grace Tsang defeating Lydia Hamilton in the final, Naomi Baird and Sophia Leathem the beaten semi-finalists in joint 3rd and Amelia Calwell in 5th place. Year 8 Eric Hutchinson took gold in the boys’ U12s in a close fought final, winning 10-9 against the current age group points leader. Flynn Woolsey-Jensen and Zach Fyffe were joint 3rd and Cormac McCleary and Daniel McBride 5th and 6th.
U14s
Ethan Dilworth, Adam Sugar and Thomas Morrow all made the semis in the U14 boys’ event. Ethan went through to the final but lost there to the U14M points leader to take silver, Adam and Thomas taking home bronze medals. Places 5 to 10 were all filled by SU competitors: Patrick John, Oliver Stevenson, Hugo Hazle, Samuel Snoddy, Ralph Lindsay and Rory Fosker, with beginners Oliver, Ralph and Rory mixing it with the more experienced fencers. The U14F category had only 2 entrants: Erin Keough and Lydia Hamilton. Erin was therefore moved up to fight in U16s, Lydia down into the U12s, then at the end of the competition they fought a U14F final which Erin won 15-8.
U16s
Amelia Penny increased her series lead in the U16F points table with another win over her SU teammate Cassidy Ogle in the girls’ final, while Erin Keough and Lois Donald finished just outside the medals in 5th and 6th. In the U16 boys Myles Wilkinson had a convincing 15-7 win in the final after knocking out teammate Lennox Brown in the semis. Noah Currie made the other semi, but suffered an injury during the bout and had to withdraw, finishing with bronze along with Lennox. Rohan Nair, Theo Beggs and Tom Woolsey-Jensen all made the quarter-finals, finishing 5th, 6th and 8th.
Well done all 29 SU competitors in this the biggest club turn-out in a junior event in the 21 years of Sullivan Upper Fencing Club’s existence. Thank you to the SU staff for preparing the Sports Hall for us and to all the fencer parents for their support.
Round 5, the final round of the 2023/2024 NIJFS season, will be on Sun 3rd March in the SU Sports Hall.
David White
SUFC Coach
07 Feb 2024
