JUNE saw the millennium’s first Great Yarmouth Team Fencing competition take place, which for the first time featured separate events for each weapon: foil, sabre and epee.

This event was sponsored by Waitrose, who provided refreshments for the competitors throughout the day. The day saw entries from Affondo, Bury St Edmunds, CARU, Norfolk, University of East Anglia and Great Yarmouth & Waveney Fencing clubs.

The first event of the day was the epee, with four teams competing. One team, the First Timers, was so called as this was their first competition and, for most of them, their first epee match ever. Despite the First Timers’ inexperience they were able to put up an impressive fight, with some close results to place fourth.

The Grey Team from Norfolk Fencing Club were undoubtedly the most experienced team on the day. However, their captain suffered injury early on and a replacement had to be subbed-in. They suffered a narrow defeat to the UEA team who made a comeback in the last few seconds to end the match 44-43, placing the Grey Team in third and UEA in second.

The overall and undefeated winners were a Bunch of Strangers, who were able to achieve a comfortable victory over the First Timers and Greys, and despite a close start against the UEA team, a Bunch of Strangers managed to pull ahead and complete their hat-trick to take gold.

In the final of the sabre event, Affondo were fighting Great Yarmouth for gold.

Despite some impressive comebacks from the GY team they were unable to catch up with the more experienced Affondo team, with the match ending a respectable 45-35 to Affondo, leaving GY to take silver.

The final event of the day was the foil; here the competition was split between two inexperienced teams and two more competitive teams. As expected, the inexperienced teams, Foiled Again and First Time Again, were beaten by their more experienced opponents.

It was a close match, with Foiled Again holding a small lead, up to the final match where First Time Again won the match and the bronze medal 44-40.

The gold medal final, between a Bunch of Strangers and Made on the Day, was another close match, with the lead oscillating between the two teams up to the final match where a Bunch of Strangers came from three points behind to win 45-40, gaining their second gold medal of the day.

The atmosphere was jovial and fun throughout the day.

All teams left with smiles on their faces, perhaps because of the chocolate prizes awarded along with the medals. The event organiser, Robert Johnson would like to thank Waitrose for sponsoring the event.

He said: “The refreshments were really welcomed by the fencers and came as a pleasant surprise that kept them going throughout a long, but enjoyable day of fencing.”

If you’d like to have a go at fencing, contact Great Yarmouth and Waveney Fencing Club on www.gywfc.co.uk, especially if you’re between the ages of 7 and 11.