Abingdonian 2017

54 The Abingdonian Fencing This season, the Abingdon School Fencing Club has continued to represent the School, region and nation with remarkable success. The Club epitomises the Abingdon ethos of the Other Half, with almost every member only holding a sword for the first time here at Abingdon. Its welcoming nature has made so many boys feel at home and it has uncovered hidden talents within boys enabling them to achieve great things in this sport. The introduction of the Lower School Cup in December represented the Fencing Club’s commitment and success in raising young Abingdonians from complete novices to competitive athletes, with Jacob Drew emerging from a large field to win the maiden trophy. The Club maintains its domination of the inter-school circuit, displaying fine skill, camaraderie and grit as the athletes fought their way to a flawless season, extending Abingdon’s unbeaten run to four years. Having agreed to re-establish a fixture with Abingdon, a confident Harrow found themselves red-faces after we achieved a flawless 4-0 victory over this historic rival. Other whitewash victories were achieved over Wellington, Radley, Dauntsey’s, and St Benedict’s, while decisive 3-1 victories were achieved over Charterhouse and RGS High Wycombe. However, the Abingdon fencers had to dig deep against arch- rivals Winchester, with our young team battling as a tight unit against much stronger (and hairier) opposition. A nail-biting 5-4 triumph was clinched by Captain Robert MacLennan in the final bout of the fixture, making the overall result a three matches to one victory for Abingdon. The Club’s extraordinary strength throughout its ranks was demonstrated at the Public Schools’ Fencing Championship at the Crystal Palace Sports Centre in March, as Abingdon won the the Hilary Hammond Trophy for the third year in four, plucking the magnificent prize from Eton (last year’s victors). This trophy is awarded to the school gaining the highest number of points in the competition with 24 weapon entries or less, which the Club deservedly won after the Abingdon School fencers achieved consistently high results in both Epée and Foil. Fuelled on a potent combination of adrenaline and Scotch eggs, Robert MacLennan fought his way to his fourth consecutive Public School’s Epée final to finish second in the Senior competition after a narrow defeat to Singaporean prodigy Justin Lim. Tom Preston, Patrick Johnson and Jonathan Law also achieved notable performances in the Senior event, all reaching the last 32. James MacLennan, Harry Baston-Hall, Noë Larousse, Jake de Jongh and Gabriel Tribe all stamped their mark on the Junior category with two last 16 performances and four other top 40 finishes between them despite all but one having another year in the same category. However, the sheer determination and gallant spirit of the Club’s young fencers in the Mount-Haes category can not be overlooked as, despite averaging less than two years of holding a sword, Ben Kiraikou, Mike MacLennan, James Gibson, Jacob Drew and Dan Keeble all performed valiantly against more experienced opposition to achieve a strong set of performances, with Mike weaving and ducking his way to a top 25 finish in both Epée and Foil. As well as developing a strong and dynamic team, the Club has nurtured its fencers into being remarkably strong individuals. This independence was highlighted at the Southern Regional Championships in March where Abingdonians walked away with an impressive haul of six medals. In the U18 Epée, both the calmness and dexterity of Patrick Johnson compared