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Trinity Team Foil, February 2010

Evgeniy Kazantsev (R) attacks DUFC's Louis Arron (L) in the Men's final.

The second competition Trinity hosted in as many weekends saw our foilists achieve second place finishes in both the Men's and Women's events. With three DUFC Men's teams entered, it was the grouping of Louis Arron, Ned Mitchel and Declan Gibbons who finished highest, battling their way to the final where a Pembroke Team awaited. In the end Pembroke were too strong and won out by 10 points. Our Women's first team met a similar fate on the Sunday. No team came close to troubling Anna Smith, Maria Treacyadn Jenny Jennings until they met another Pembroke team in their final where, our team's battling spirit notwithstanding, another 10 point deficit emerged. The DUFC second team in the Men's event could count themselves unlucky to lost out on a semi final spot despite the best efforts of Alex von Rakowski wo overturn a large deficit in the final bout of the match. His tenacity achieved a 12-5 vistory in that bout but it was not quite enough.

Perhaps the most heartening DUFC stories of the weekend occured in the shadow of the expoilts of the First Teams. Having picked the strongest up and coming fencers from our beginners class, Trinity entered a beginner team in each of the events. The Men's team (consisting of Jack, Danny and Augustine) faced a tough poule and their results left them having to fence off with UCD 1 to gain the final L8 spot. Our fencers pulled out all the stops and pushed UCD to their limit and then some to come out with an excellent and well earned victory to reach the L8. A triumph for our beginners over UCD 1 certainly bodes well for the future (unless you're reading this in Belfield, of course...). Our Women's beginners (Geraldine, Abbey and Dominika) faced similar challenges on the Sunday but met them by fencing with a degree of technique that belied their lack of experience. They were unfortunate to lose out to a more battle hardened Salle Dublin team in a match where, at one point, they had opened up a seven point lead. Their disappointment was understandable but the experience of competition will stand them in good stead for the challenges ahead.

Final Standings:

Men's Team Foil, Saturday 6 February 2010:
1. Pembroke
2. DUFC 1
3. NUIM 1
3. Team "Best of Luck to All Competitors, We Support You in your Pursuit of Fencing Excellence"
5. DUFC 2
6. NUIM 2
7. UCD 2
8. DUFC Beginners
9. UCD 1

Women's Team Foil, Sunday 7 February 2010:
1. Pembroke
2. DUFC 1
3. NUIM
3. Salle Dublin
5. DUFC 2
6. UCD

Prof. Duffy Memorial Team Epee, January 2010

Colm Flynn prepares for the Prof. Duffy Team Epee

Trinity's Epee teams achieved third place finishes in both the Men's and Women's events. Hosted in our own sports hall,the Duffy Epee saw teams travelling from England and Germany to compete. Saturday's Men's competition saw Salle Duffy triumph against Leipzig in the final but only after squeezing past Trinity's men in an excruciatingly tight semi-final that ended 45-44.Trinity's team of Alex Kelly (c), Alex von Rakowski and Colm Flynn battled Salle Duffy all the way and held the lead at several points but were untimately undone by the day's deserved winners. The Women's team (Hannah Lowry-O'Reilly (c), Anna Smith and Kate Cunningham) met a similar fate on the Sunday, losing to the competition's eventual winners, Leipzig, in a tight semi. The match finished 45-41 to the Germans who have won the competition on several occasions. A DUFC alumni team of Rory Greenan, Lachlan Sykes and James Stratford also entered the Men's event finishing in the Last 8. Rather than contributing to Trinity's push for glory, reknowned back-stabber Natalya 'Tal' Coyne fenced on an MPAI team; her team got to the semi-finals before losing out to Marburg in yet another extraordinarily tight match.

Final Standings:

Men's Team Epee, Saturday 30 January 2010:
1. Salle Duffy 1
2. Leipzig 2
3. DUFC 1
3. Marburg 2
5. Leipzig 1
6. Salle Duffy 2
7. Northampton
8. DUFC Alumni
9. Agincourt (Pembroke)
10. Marburg 1
11. Pembroke 2
12. Wexford
13. Mermidons (Pembroke)

Women's Team Epee, Sunday 30 January 2010:
1. Leipzig
2. Marburg
3. DUFC 1
3. MPAI 1
5. Black Tulips
6. MPAI 2
7. UCD
8. DCU

Essex Open, January, 2010

DUFC had one entrant in the 2010 Essex Open. Irish Champion, Anna Smith, competed in the Women's Foil foil event and achieved a strong Last 16 finish with a final position of 11th in a very strong field.

Northern Ireland Open, 16-17 January, 2010

DUFC's Anna Smith en route to her 2nd place finish in the Norths.

Ireland's first competition of 2010 was attended by a strong DUFC contingent who made the trip up the coast to Belfast for the Northern Ireland Open.As usual this event provided some stiff competition but Trinity's fencers fought to several very creditable results. The pick of the bunch were Anna Smith's second place in Women's Foil and Louis Arron's third place in the Men's. DUFC competitors also got L8 finishes in Men's Sabre (Ali Mahdavirad), Women's Sabre (Helen Naddy) and Men's Epee (Colm Flynn).

The full DUFC results were:

Men's Epee:
5. Colm Flynn

Women's Epee:
10. Natalya Coyne

Men's Foil:
3. Louis Arron
14. Declan Gibbons
17. Donal Mulligan

Women's Foil:
2. Anna Smith
9. Jenny Jennings

Men's Sabre:
6. Ali Mahdavirad
10. Jack McHugh

Women's Sabre:
6. Helen Naddy

Announcement of DUFC Bursary for FIE events

Dublin University Fencing Club is proud to announce that our organising committee recently decided to create an incentive bursary fund to encourage its fencers to compete in FIE (Fédération Internationale d'Escrime) tournaments throughout the world. Eligible DUFC fencers will be rewarded in the form of ?50 to contribute toward the expenses of competing in these events.

Further details can be by clicking on the 'FIE Bursary Fund' link in the menu on the left or by clicking here.

For older news items please see our News Archive.

since Nov 1st 05