Celebrating the successes of the 2009-2010 season so far as well as looking toward the future, DUFC's AGM was a night to remember. With Declan Gibbons standing down as captain after bringing home another Intervarsities Championships to Trinity, the job of leading the club forward was passed to Alex Kelly. With a promising committee around him, Alex will be looking forward to continuing on the club's strong showings nationally and building on our international efforts.
The thanks of a grateful club go to all those who gave so freely of their time and effort for the sake of the Trinity fencing in the last year.
The full 2010-2011 DUFC Committee is as follows: Captain: Alex Kelly Ladies Captain: Helen Naddy Secretary: Liz Fitzgerald Treasurer: Jack McHugh Armourer: Ali Mahdavirad Entertainment Officer: Danny O'Gorman Beginners Officer: Geraldine Davies PR Officer: Declan Gibbons Alumni Officer: Lachlan Sykes Investment Officer: Alex von Rakowski Webmaster: Colm Flynn OCM: Tal Coyle OCM: Ned Mitchel OCM: Chris Mills
DUFC fencer competes in Pentathalon World Cup, Mexico, 7 March 2010
Tal Coyle at the 2010 Intervarsities.
After playing her part in the Trinity Women's Epee triumph at the Intervarsities the previous weekend, Pentathlete and DUFC fencer, Natalya Coyle, achieved a remarkable 19th place overall finish in a World Cup event in Playa del Carme, Mexico. With a total score of 4688, Tal's best event was the riding where she placed 11th. In the fencing event she obtained 17 wins in the poule unique of 37 competitior. As well as fencing, the Modern Pentathalon includes running, shooting, riding and swimming.
Huge congratulations to Tal on the achievement!
Intervarsities, DCU, 27-28 February 2010
Trinity's winning Intervarsity Squad, 2010 (click on the photo to see it in full size).
At the end of February DUFC won our third Intervarsity Championships in a row! Triumphing in four of the six events, Trinity finished 8 victories ahead of our nearest rivals, UCD. The event was hosted with great efficiency by DCU. In both epee and foil, Trinity went unbeaten all weekend. Our dominance in those four weapons was unquestionable and was exemplified by the men's epee team losing only two bouts all day winning seven matches 5-0 and two 5-1. It was in the sabre that the closest contests occurred. Any of DUFC, DKIT or UCD could have picked up the Men's trophy that eventually went to UCD by the smallest of margins - with Trinity beating DKIT, Dkit beating UCD and UCD beating Trinity the result came down to indicators and UCD won ahead of our hard working team who took second place. Every single member of our talented squad in women's sabre were competing in their first intervarsities and will take much experience and confidence from their strong performance that earned them a third place finish behind DKIT and Queens.
Merseyside Open, 20-21 February 2010
'DUFC' - fencing club in one of the world's top 50 universities... apparently. The culprits are (L-R) Donal Mulligan, Alex Kelly, Hannah Lowry-O'Reilly, Ali Mahdavirad and Liz Fitzgerald.
A sizable contingent of DUFC fencers invaded Liverpool for the 2010 Merseyside Open and returned home with heads held high after a series of strong results. Trinity had entrants in each of the weekend?s six events. As is so often the case, Anna Smith achieved the best result from among the DUFC cohort winning a silver medal in the Women's Foil. In the same event, two of our other women's foilists, Maria Treacy and Jenny Jennings, finished in the L16. Women?s Epee saw another L16 finish for a DUFC fencer with Hannah Lowry-O'Reilly battling to that stage. Strong results came in the two sabre events too with Ali Mahdavirad, Rodrigo Gonzalez and Lizfitzgerald all getting to the L32. As always seems to happen when a large group travels abroad to an open, the L64 of the men?s competition witnessed two DUFC fencers clash with Ali overcoming Jack McHugh.
Women's Foil:
2. Anna Smith
13. Maria Treacy
14. Jenny Jennings
Women's Epee:
11. Hannah Lowry-O'Reilly
Men's Foil:
47. Donal Mulligan
Men's Sabre:
21. Ali Mahdavirad
30. Rodrigo Gonzalez
44. Jack McHugh
Women's Sabre:
22. Liz Fitzgerald
Men's Epee:
67. Alex Kelly
Elsewhere, Colm Flynn travelled to Berlin to fence in the 50th Weisser Bär epee event finishing 207th in a strong field.
DUFC's road to world domination continues
An article in the latest edition of Escrime, magazine profiled Irish fencing and correctly identifies DUFC as 'Probably the best (fencing) school in the country'. The magazine can be downloaded here: Escrime Magazine. Page 33 is the one you want.
East of Ireland Open, 13-14 February, 2010
DUFC's Hannah Lowry-O'Reilly lands a hit during her ultimately victorious Women's Epee semi-final.
The annual East of Ireland Open, held in UCD, gave opportunities for some Trinity fencers to gain valuable experience while others pushed for glory. Saturday's standout result for DUFC was Hannah Lowry-O'Reilly's march to the final of the Women's Epee competition where she was beaten by an on-form Catherine Gracey, 9-15. Hannah's route to the final saw her overturn a four point deficit in the semi-final against an experienced Dutch fencer. Elsewhere, Brenda Doherty and Liz Fitzgerald both acquited themselves well in Women's Sabre where they each reached the Last 8. Declan Gibbons got to the L16 of the Men's Foil with Donal Mulligan losing out in the L32.
Trinity's successful weekend continued on Sunday with two further second place finishes achieved by Ali Mahdavirad (MS) and Anna Smith (WF). Ali's standout performance saw him push David Downey right to the wire in a tight final. After a strong performance in the Men's Epee event, Alex 'short stuff' Kelly achieved his best result thus far with a semi final finish.
Men's Epee:
3. Alex Kelly
7. Alex Von Rakowski
11. Colm Flynn
16. Rory Greenan
Men's Sabre:
2. Ali Mahdavirad
9. Jack McHugh
12. Rodrigo Gonzalez
Women's Foil:
2. Anna Smith
8. Jenny Jennings
14. Maria Treacy
Women's Epee:
2. Hannan Lowry-O'Reilly
7. Kate Cunningham
Women's Sabre:
6. Liz Fitzgerald
7. Brenda Doherty
DKIT Sabre Colours, February 2010
The third annual sabre colours match between Trinity and Dundalk IT's sabre only fencing club brought Trinity's third successive victory in the event. Two men's and one women's teams made the trek up the coast to compete for the much coveted Skyes-Mooney Trophy and it was DUFC, with wins in both Men's matches, that came out on top. Our men's first team triumphed over that of DKIT with a score of 5-3 with Jack McHugh winning all three of his bouts to ensure victory. That success was followed up by our second team winning by the same margin. DUFC's women were not as sucessful as they lost out 3-5 in their match. The momentum provided by this victory over one of our closest competitiors in the Intervarsity sabre events in a few weeks will be a timely boost for our hard working sabre squad.
DUFC Teams:
DUFC Men 1: Ali Mahdavirad, Jack McHugh, Rodrigo Gonzales.
DUFC Men 2: Chris Mills, Alex Kelly, Declan Gibbons.
DUFC Women: Maria Treacy, Liz Fitzgerald, Helen Naddy, Brenda Doherty.
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.
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' Coyle fenced on an MPAI team; her team got to the semi-finals before losing out to Marburg in yet another extraordinarily tight match.
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).
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.
DUFC: As seen on the BBC
Gryff Rhys Jones and Dara O'Briain after fencing with DUFC for the BBC programme 'Three Men go to Ireland'.
DUFC's burgeoning international fame took another step forward this January with the broadcast of 'Three Men go to Ireland' the latest in the BBC's Three Men comedy series starring Dara O'Briain, Gryf Rhys Jones and Rory McGrath. The highlight of the two episode series was, doubtless, the visit of Dara O'Briain and Gryf Rhys Jones to Trinity's own Dublin University Fencing Club last October. After a brief training session with Louis Arron and Colm Flynn the Comedians took to the piste for their first forays into the world of fencing.
The important part of the series can be seen on this youtube clip (DUFC accepts no responibility for the content of external sites), the bit you want runs from 2:04 to the end:
Trinity Cup, 5 December 2009
DUFC's winning Trinity Cup Team: (L-R) Rosanna Mallison (WS), Louis Arron (MF, Team Captain), Ali Mahdavirad (MS), Anna Smith (WF), Kate Cunningham (WE) and Colm Flynn (ME).
As well as playing the role of hosts, coming into this year's event as title holders put pressure on Trinity's teams to perform. The 2009 Trinity Cup was the first time that all six weapons were included in the competition as Women's Sabre appeared as a weapon in its own right. With this added elementin place things got off to a good start for DUFC 1 by beating their hardest opponents in the first match of the poule unique, DUFC 2. Proceedings developed well from that as DUFC 2's only loss in the poule came in that opening match to the first team. With seven teams entered every one got a chance to face off against each other team before the Direct Elimations began in the early afternoon. All went to plan for Trinity in the knock out rounds as three of our four teams battled to the semi finals where DUFC 1 and DUFC 2 triumphed to meet in teh final where the first team, with a favourable draw vis-á-vis the order of weapons, came out on top in a tight match that ended 28-25.
As always the Trinity Cup provided a great chance for novice fencers to get to grips with an relay event and to work in teams alongside more experienced fencers.
The final rankings were as follows: Champions: DUFC 1 (pictured above)
2. DUFC 2
3. DUFC 3
4. UCD 1
5. NUIM
6. UCD 2
7. DUFC 4
Irish Open, 28-29 November 2009
The Irish Open brought the best in Irish fencing to DCU to challenge for the title of Irish Champion. The opening event of the weekend, the FIE Men's Epee Satellite, saw a very high standard including two of the world?s top 50 men's epeeists ? Portugal's Joao Cordeiro, the eventual winner, and Joaquim Videira, the world number 23 and 2006 World Championship runner up. Four of Trinity's epeeists fought in this event, all turning out creditable performances that they will be looking to build upon in the future. The Women's foil competition saw the major Trinity triumph of the weekend with DUFC newcomer, Anna Smith, overcoming the opposition to win the event. The Women's Epee also took place on Saturday with only one DUFC participant; in a large field Natalya Coyle finished 5th with a strong performance.
In Sunday's Men's Foil event, Louis Arron was trying to defend his 2008 title but had to settle for third as he found himself unlucky to lose to several time Irish Champion, Conor Nagle, in the semi-final. Sunday also saw the holding of the two sabre events with some notable Trinite results especially in the women's competition where novice fencers Helen Naddy and Liz Fitzgerald both got last 16 finishes after fencing well in the poules. In the Men's Sabre, Rodrigo Gonzales pushed the eventual winner, Owen Macnamee, right to the wire in a tough last 16 match of the highest standard.
The week following the Irish Open also saw DUFC's 2008-09 Captain, Louis Arron, awarded a sports scholarship by Trinity - congratualtions to him.
The full DUFC results for the weekend were as follows:
Men's Epee, FIE Satellite:
19. Alex von Rakowski
30. Colm Flynn
33. Rory Greenan
38. Alex Kelly
Women's Epee:
5. Natalya Coyle
Men's Foil:
3. Louis Arron
9. Ned Mitchel
10. Lachlan Sykes
15. Donal Mulligan
Women's Foil: IRISH CHAMPION: Anna Smith
7. Jenny Jennings
8. Maria Treacy
Men's Sabre:
6. Rodrigo Gonzales
7. Ali Mahdavirad
15. Jack McHugh
Women's Sabre:
9. Helen Naddy
10. Liz Fitzgerald
International Events, 14-15 November 2009
With DUFC fencers competing in events in both Amsterdam and Cardiff, the weekend of November 14 and 15 was a busy one. The Welsh open in Cardiff was well attended by our team with no less than five making the trip across the Irish Sea.Saturday's highlights was the result of our Women's Captain, Hannah Lowry-O'Reilly, who reached the last 32 of a large, strong field. This strong showing was followed up on Sunday by Anna Smith's Last 16 performance in the Women's Foil. In the other events Donal Mulligan finished 71st in Men's Foil while in Men's Epee Alex von Rakowski and Alex Kelly finished 49th and 104 respectively.
Elsewhere, several Irish foilists were involved in the FIE Men's Foil Satellite in Amsterdam with Trinity's Louis Arron, Lachlan Sykes and Declan Gibbons achieving final positions of 11, 24 and 37 respectively.
Schull Novice Cup, 7 November 2009
Ines de Bodard after claiming the Women's Best Beginner Prize at the Schull Novice Cup
The annual trip to the Schull Novice competition in Cork city saw DUFC's novices acquit themselves superbly with several impressive results and clear signs of strong and developing technique as well as a highly competitive spirit from all concerned. Trinity can be justifiably proud of the exertions of all our fencers at the event that was contested by seventeen DUFC fencers.
With a total of 90 competitors across the two events, Saturday's tournament provided a superb opportunity for our budding foilists to test their mettle against a wide range of styles and skill levels. There were two clear stand out results for the Trinity team with Jack McHugh coming second in the Men's event with a strong performance in a tight final that he was unlucky to lose and Ines De Bodard?s sixth place finish in the Women's being enough for her to claim the best beginner for her. The fact that four of the Last 8 in the women?s event were from Trinity underscores the potential in the ranks of new and upcoming our fencers.
The accompanying social events proved highly enjoyable.
The full DUFC results were as follows:
Men:
60 competitors in total
2. Jack McHugh
10. Tyrone Croome Caroll
19. Charles Deraign
21. Remy Ribas
22. Franz Weiz
24. Svielen Sovov
31. Danny O'Gorman
39. Finbar Goode-Begley
42. David Bright
43. Etienne Raynaud
Saturday, 17 October, saw an IFF Training day was held in Trinity college sports hall. Coached by Tristan Parris (foil and epee) and Marcos Simpson (sabre) the camp was attended by several hard working DUFC fencers who made good use of the day to add to their fencing experience and technique.
Vinny Duffy Sabre
The Vinny Duffy sabre competition was held this year on 12th of October in DKIT with DUFC's sabre squad turning out in force. After the initial poules our fencers all got through to last 16 where they faced off against opponents from DKIT and UCD, our traditional sabre rivals. As a result of his top quality poule results, Rodrigo Gonzales had a high seeding, which he made good use of to safely fought his way through to the last 8. Also, after a breath taking match, Chris Mills, DUFC's sabre Captain, got througth to L8 beating former DKIT sabre club captain, John McCabe. What should have been another epic match turned out to be far more straight forward than expected for DUFC's Ali Mahdavirad as he swept away DKIT's Chris Mooney, a member of the Irish team, in a decisive 15-3 victory.
Elsewhere in the Last 16, Jack McHugh unfortunately lost out to Julian Hayes from UCD in a very close fight. Despite Trinity's strong showing in the early stages, getting through last 8 proved tricks with all of Rodrigo, Ali and Chris losing out in that round and ending up 5th, 6th and 8th respectivly.
Commanding Performance from Trinity at Intermediates
Trinity's Intermediate Champions 2009, clockwise from top left: Ali Mahdavirad (MS), Jenny Jennings (WF), Alex von Rakowski (ME) and Declan Gibbons (MF)
The 2009 Intermediate Championships provided a healthy ego boost for Trinity's squad. Held in UCD on 3 and 4 October, the weekend saw DUFC fencers win four of the six events with a further three second place finishes and three bronze medals. Trinity's domination was especially evident on Sunday when all three events finished with fencers from our club as champions!
The Saturday had seen our Men's Foil squad competition setting the pace in their competition. Our Club Captain, Declan Gibbons, finished the day victorious but only after battling through clubmates Donal Mulligan and Ned Mitchell in the semi-final and final respectively leaving Trinity with three of the four podium places in that event. Also on Saturday, Hannah Lowry-O'Reilly had been incredibly unlucky to lose a close Women's Epee final 12-11, in an added minute, after fencing well throughout the competition.
Our only entrant in the Women's Foil event notched the first Trinity victory on Sunday as Jenny Jennings came back from 3-8 down to triumph 15-10, a testament to her mental strength. The semi-final of the Men's Epee brought about 'The Battle of the Trinity Alexs' with Von Rakowski coming out on top of Kelly after a long match. Alex then went on to completely control the final from start to finish, coming out with a convincing 15-8 victory. With more intra-Trinity matches than one could shake a stick at the Men's Sabre event had the second all DUFC final of the weekend. Having narrowly knocked out Jack McHugh in the Last 8, Ali Mahdavirad fought past Garret Sykes in the semi final to meet Chris Mills who had found himself having to fight past a clubmate on his march to the final - he battled past Rodrigo Gonzales at the semi-final stage. In a see-saw final that went right to the wire that saw both fencers leading at various points, the more experienced Ali triumped in the end by the narrowest margin possible, 15-14.
Congratualtions to all those who took part, the next aim is for Trinity to take this form forward into the senior opens of the coming months!
Introductory Workshops
Sat 26th Sept, 12-4pm
Sat 10th Oct, 12-4pm
For our new members who are either complete beginners or those who want to get their swordplay up to scratch.
FRESHERS WEEK PARTY!!!
McTurcaills Pub
Corner of Tara St. / Townsend St.
Thursday 24th Sept 7pm
Complementary Food & “Refreshments”
A great way to meet other members current and new, and find out a little more about your new club.
Senior Irish Fencing Team Announced
Fencers from the DU Fencing Club selected for the team were Colm Flynn (Men's Epee), Louis Arron (Men's Foil), Kate Harvey and Maria Tracy (Women's Foil). They will be competing in the 5 Nations in Belfast on 21st November. Congratulations to you all!
2008/'09 News
DUFC shines in Carrickfergus!!!
On 21st and 22nd of June DUFC fencers competed at the Carrickfergus Castle competition and proved themselves to be the best in the country and they defended their title as interverasity champions. The results of Trinity's fencers were:
Mens Epee:
WINNER: Colm Flynn
3. Alex Kelly
20. James Stratford
Mens Foil:
6. Donal Mulligan
11. Jiang Zhou
Mens Sabre:
20. Alex Kelly
Womens Epee:
7. Kate Harvey
8. Dell Watson
Womens Foil:
2. Kate Harvey
3. Jenny Jennings
5. Maria Treacy
Congratulations to Colm and Kate for their First and Second place finishes respectively.
DUFC retain Colours!
On Tuesday, 21 February, DUFC made the trip out to UCD to compete in the annual colours match. Following a period of UCD dominance of the trophy, DUFC won the title back in 2008 by a margin of 4-2. This year's squad went one better than that and took a 5-1 victory winning all of the weapon events except Womens Sabre. Several of Trinity's victories were by large margins including two 5-0 white washes.
With both the men and women starting with the epee events, we got off to a strong start winnning a hard fought 5-3 victory in the mens event with a decidely more straight-forward 5-1 result in the womens event. The second round of matches saw Trinity's only loss of the evening in Women's Sabre but this was more than compensated for by the strong 5-0 triumph in Mens foil. With Trinity 3-1 up overall, in the final two matches of Men's Sabre and Women's Foil Trinity only needed one win to fully secure the trophy for a second year running. As it happened Trinity not only took Women's Foil 5-0 but also overturned last year's loss in Mens Sabre by taking a 5-1 win. Trinity's dominance of the event was underlined by taking both the foil matches without conceding a bout in either.
This victory means that in 2009 DUFC teams have won the Intervarsities, the Colours and the Trinity Cup. Our thanks go to UCD for hosting this year's match and we look forward to trying to make it three-in-a-row in Trinity next year.
Scores and Teams:
Mens Foil, WON, 5-0:
Louis Arron (c)
Ned Mitchell
Lachlan Sykes
Subs:Declan Gibbons and Donal Mulligan
Mens Epee, WON, 5-3:
Colm Flynn(c)
Alex Kelly
Alex Von Rakowski
Sub: Ned Mitchell
Mens Sabre, WON, 5-1:
Ali Mahdavirad (c)
Jack MacHugh
Lachlan Sykes
Womens Foil, WON, 5-0:
Kate Harvey (c)
Jenny Jennings
Maria Treacy
Sub: Bairbre Holmes
Womens Epee, WON, 5-1:
Kate Cunnigham
Kate Harvey (c)
Hannah Lowry-O’Reilly
Sub: Bairbre Holmes
Womens Sabre, Lost, 1-5:
Hannah Lowry-O’Reilly
Bairbre Holmes
Maria Treacy
Sub: Kate Harvey (c)
New mailing list
To make it easier to both opt in and out of getting emails with club news, DUFC has set up a new mailing list system. To sign up for the list please enter your details in the form on the left hand side of the main page of the site. The old mailing system will be used for the upcoming few weeks before we switch entirely to the new system.
Irish Senior Nationals, IFF, 28/29 March, 2009
The annual event open only to those of Irish Nationality saw Trinity pick up two bronze medals for Maria Treacy's semi-final in Womens Foil and for Colm Flynn's in Mens Epee.
Mens Epee:
3. Colm Flynn
18. Alex Kelly
21. Gabriel Beecham
Mens Foil:
8. Donal Mulligan
10. Declan Gibbons
Mens Sabre:
11. Jack Mc Hugh
15. Chris Mills
Womens Epee:
6. Hannah Lowry O'Reilly
8. Kate Cunningham
Womens Foil:
3. Maria Treacy
7. Jennifer Jennings
10. Bairbre Holmes
An outstanding result for Trinity in Womens Foil at the Student Championships saw out squad take three of the four podium places with Kate Harvey beating Jenny Jennings in the final and Maria Treacy taking third. Two more final positions were achieved by Louis Arron in Mens Foil and Hannah Lowry O'Reilly in Womens Epee. Donal Mulligan's semi-final in Mens Foil as well as a host of L8 finishes also contributed to a memorable weekend for Trinity's fencers.
Mens Epee:
5. Colm Flynn
12. Gabriel Beecham
Mens Foil:
2. Louis Arron
3. Donal Mulligan
8. Jiang Zhou
18. Gabriel Beecham
Mens Sabre:
6. Rodrigo Gonzalez
8. Jack Mc Hugh
16. Gabriel Beecham
Womens Epee:
2. Hannah Lowry O'Reilly
8. Kate Cunningham
Womens Foil:
1. Kate Harvey
2. Jenny Jennings
3. Maria Treacy
7. Bairbre Holmes
For the second year running Dublin University Fencing Club has won the Irish Intervarsity Championships. This year's resounding victory comfortably confirmed Trinity's current position at the top of Irish University fencing. In losing only two matches all weekend the team came home having won five of the six events, up from three last year. Trinity won all of Mens Foil, Mens Epee, Womens Foil, Womens Epee, Womens Sabre and came a hugely improved second place in Mens Sabre only losing one match to the eventual winners, DKIT.
This second victory in a row brings Trinity's total number to 32 wins in the competitions 55 year history. These consecutive wins are only part of Trinity's continued drie to dominate Irish fencing, a drive that we aim to continue in April's Colours Match against UCD.
The Trinity teams were as follows:
Mens Foil, WINNERS:
Louis Arron (c)
Declan Gibbons
Ned Mitchell
Donal Mulligan
Alex Von Rakowski
Mens Epee, WINNERS:
Colm Flynn(c)
Alex Kelly
Ned Mitchell
Alex Von Rakowski
Mens Sabre, Second Place:
Rodrigo Gonzalez
Ali Mahdavirad (c)
Chris Mills
Womens Foil, WINNERS:
Kate Harvey (c)
Bairbre Holmes
Jenny Jennings
Maria Treacy
Womens Epee, WINNERS:
Kate Cunnigham
Kate Harvey (c)
Bairbre Holmes
Hannah Lowry-O’Reilly
With a significant contingent making the trip to deepest darkest UCD Dublin for the East of Ireland Open, DUFC had a number of top results with very solid finishes all round. The Easts also provided a good opportunity for our novice fencers to take a step up and gains some experience, an opportunity wich was taken up en masse. Trinity's most notable results were semi-finals for Alex Von Rakowski (ME), Ali Mahdavirad (MS), Hannah Lowry O'Reilly (WE) and Maria Treacy (WF). The complete DUFC resutls were as follows:
Mens Epee:
3. Alex Von Rakowski
11. Colm Flynn
15. Lochlainn Coyne
17. Rory Greenan
24. William Quill
30. Tomas Sullivan
Mens Foil:
5. Lachlann Sykes
9. Donal Mulligan
14. Declan Gibbons
25. Alex Von Rakowski
38. Sam Bouma
42. Tomas Sullivan
Withdrawn: Louis Arron
Mens Sabre:
3. Ali Mahdavirad
6. Tomas Arnfelt
9. Chris Mills
17. Rodrigo Gonzalez
22. Jack Mc Hugh
28. Samuel Bouma
Womens Epee:
3. Hannah Lowry O'Reilly
Womens Foil:
3. Maria Treacy
5. Kate Harvey
14. Bairbre Holmes
24. Jennifer Jennings
25. Helen Naddy
Trinity Cup, Trinity, 31 January, 2009
A hugely successful day for Trinity saw our First and Third teams meet in the final. With both teams having to overcome tough French opposition in the semi-finals, this was a rewarding win for the club with the DUFC first team of Louis Arron (c) MF, Colm Flynn ME, Ali Mahdavirad S, Kate Harvey WF and Hannah Lowry O'Reilly WE coming out on top. The DUFC second team finished in the round of the last 8.
Prof. Duffy Memorial Team Epee, Trinity, 24/25 January, 2009
Trinity's annual epee team event was as well attended as usual with teams from several countries attending. The mens winners were Tiromachino from Italy who dominated all their matches and were too strong for Edinburgh in the final. The women's event saw Leipzig retain the trophy coming ahead of Team International. DUFC's first epee team suffered the ignominy of losing out in the L16 to our foilists masquerading as epeeists for the day.
Northern Irish Open, Belfast, 17/18 January, 2009
A large group of Trinity fencers made the short trip north to compete in the Northern Irish Open in Belfast. The most noteworthy results were the final appearances of Louis Arron in Mens Foil and Colm FLynn in Mens Epee and Kate Harvey in WOmens Foil. They were beaten by David Alexander, Andrew Fenwick and Katie Gillespie respectively. The complete DUFC resutls were as follows:
Mens Epee:
2. Colm Flynn
Mens Foil:
2. Louis Arron
11. Donal Mulligan
12. Declan Gibbons
14. Ned Mitchell
Mens Sabre:
12. Rodrigo Gonzalez
13. Ali Mahdavirad
Womens Epee:
13. Hannah Lowry O'Reilly
Womens Foil:
3. Kate Harvey
7. Maria Treacy
12. Jennifer Jennings
14. Bairbre Holmes
Louis Arron is new Irish Men's Foil Champion
Club Captain, Louis Arron, won the Men's Foil event of the Irish Open to become Irish Men's Foil Champion by beating Evgeniy Kazantsev 15-14 in a nail-biting final in DCU. Louis reached the final after overcoming Maynooth's Fergal Martin in an equally close close semifinal. Louis, who had to come back from being 14-13 down to beat Fergal, thought he had won the final 15-13 only to be red-carded for an unorthodox duck as he hit. He had the presence of mind, however, to refocus at 14-14 and hit with another stop-hit with displacement of target, this time a legal hit.
Irish Open, 29-30 November, 2008
Elsewhere in the Irish Open, Trinity had a strong entry with several good results. Apart from Louis' Triumph there was a third place medal for Maira Treacy in Women's Foil and last 8 finishes for Declan Gibbons (MF) and CLancy Flynn (WS).
Mens Epee (FIE Satellite):
39. Colm Flynn
41. Rory Greenan
Mens Foil:
1. Louis Arron
5. Declan Gibbons
11. Edward Mitchell
13. Donal Mulligan
18. Alex Von Rakowski
22. Chris Mills
23. Jiang Zhou
36. Lochlainn Coyne
Mens Sabre:
14. Ali Mahdavirad
17. Rodrigo Gonzalez
23. Chris Mills
Womens Epee:
17. Kate Harvey
Womens Foil:
3. Maria Treacy
9. Jenny Jennings
12. Kate Harvey
21. Bairbre Holmes
Womens Sabre:
5. Clancy Flynn
Trinity Team Foil, 22-23 November, 2008
The first competition to be hosted this season by Trinity finished with second place finishes for both our men's and women's teams. Though doing excellently to reach the finals both teams lost out to strong Pembroke teams.
Congratulations to Pembroke on thier brilliant weekend in which they won both the men's and women's events.
Prof Duffy Memorial Team Epee Entry Information
The entry information for the Professor Duffy Memorial Team Epee competition, which will be hosted by Trinity on the 24 and 25 January 2009, is now available here. As well as the entry form, online entry is also now available for the first time; if tehre are any problems with the online entry please contact the webmaster.
Competitions 15 and 16 November 2008
The weekend of the 15 and 16 November saw two competitions with Trinity fencers take place; our novices made the trek to Cork for the annual Schull Novice competition where our stand-out result was Eleanor Friel's third place in the woman's event. Overall we had sixteen fencers involved in teh novice competition, a very respectable turnout from the club. The full Trinity results are as follows:
Women:
3. Eleanor Friel
6. Bairbre Holmes
12. Helena Fikerova
15. Diane Kostroch
20. Holly Acton
24. Kelsey Shields
26. Brenda Doherty
27. Helen Naddy
28. Elaine Kavanagh
31. Geraldine Master
Men:
16. Tyrone Croome-Carroll
17. Chris Mills
24. Sam Bouma
32. Lochlainn Coyne
40. Henry Elder
41. Thomas Sullivan
Congrats to all those who competed. The experience they gained should be a boon to Trinity in coming competitions.
The Other event in which Trinity fencers were involved in this busy weekend was the Welsh Open in Cardiff, an Irish ranking event for the first time. Three of our fencers made crossed to Wales for the hugley competitive event with Colm Flynn coming 69th in the mens epee and Maria Treacy and Kate Harvey achieving 45th and 57th places respectively in the womens foil.
New Photo Page
Please check out the newly added photograph section of the Dublin University Fencing Club site. The first set of photographs posted are from the South of Ireland Open held in UCC this past August, more will be added as the season progresses.
Beginners Introductory Sessions
DUFC will be running two Saturday beginner courses for our members new to the sport. All our beginners are encouraged to come to one of these sessions where we will provide an introdution to the sport and start to develop the basic skills needed.
Anyone who cannot make one of these sessions can still come to our regular beginner sessions on Fridays throughout the year.
The sessions are as follows:
Saturday, 11th October, 12-4, Ancillary Hall
Saturday, 18th October, 12-4, Ancillary Hall
Please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions or queries; see the Committee page for contact information.
Join The Fencing Club 2008/09
Join the Fencing Club: All Trinity Students and Staff welcome, come find us at our stand in Front Square all Freshers' Week, 29 September to 3rd October.
For only 5 euro we provide all the training and equipment necessary to get you started in the world of fencing. Both experienced and beginner fencers are welcome.
Freshers' Reception: Wednesday, 1 October in Cassidy's Pub, Westmoreland Street from 6.30 pm.
Training Times for 2008/09 Season
All training sessions take place in the Ancillary Hall in the Trinity College Sports hall.
This schedule runs during term time, starting the week beginning October 6, 2008.
Monday: 9.00-10.00pm (free fencing and fitness work)
Tuesday: 3.30-5.30pm (squad training with maitre T. Parris; invite only)
The South of Ireland Open took place on the weekend of the 23rd and 24th August in UCC's Mardyke Arena. A mixture of novice and experienced Trinity fencers made the trip for a hugely enjoyable weekend in Cork.
Trinity's outstanding result of the weekend was Women's Foil National Champion Maria Treacy's 2nd place finish in the Women's Foil. She had met fellow Trinity fencer Kate Harvey in the semi finals; a nail biting match resulted in the closest possible result, a 15-14 finish. Maria went on to be defeated by Sonja Waloszek in the final while Kate went on to record another third place finish on the second day of competition, this time in the epee.
There was another intra-club clash in the last 16 of the Men's Foil where Donal Mulligan overcame Declan Gibbons in a highly competitive match and went on to record a 7th place finish.
The full list of DUFC results from the competition are as follows:
Mens Epee:
11. Colm Flynn
15. James Stratford
Mens Foil:
7. Donal Mulligan
10. Declan Gibbons
22. Gabriel Beecham
Mens Sabre:
6. Rodrigo Gonzalez
Womens Foil:
2. Maria Treacy
3. Kate Harvey
Womens Epee:
3. Kate Harvey
Well done to all our fencers involved in the weekend's action.
2007/'08 News
2007/08 Season Summary
Champions - Intervarsities
Champions - Colours vs. UCD
Champions - Colours vs. DkIT
International call ups - Lachlan Sykes, Louis Arron, Declan Gibbons, Colm Flynn, Maria Treacy, Kate Harvey, Hannah Lowry O'Reilly
National Student Champions - Louis Arron and Kate Harvey (Men's and Women's Foil respectively)
Trinity College Pinks - Lachlan Sykes, Kate Harvey, Colm Flynn, David Cahill
Irish Nationals This Weekend
Anyone who has a fencing licence should take a look at entering the Irish Nationals taking place this weekend.
Don't take too long though, closing date is today for entry!
Get the application form from here : form
-Jonathan 3/3/08
Intervarsity Results
Here are the results for the intervarsities 2008 which was held by UCC. Take a look at the shinyu club at the top. :)
Final Standings :
Congratulations to all who attended, especially our teams who have trained tirelessly throughout the year.
And of course congratulations are due for our Captain Lachlan Syke's and our women's captain Maria Treacy for leading their teams to victory in Cork.
Thanks also to UCC for hosting the competition.
-Jonathan 3/3/08
Trinity Win Intervarsities
Just a quick update to let everyone know that DUFC have won the intervarsities! Congratulations are in order for the hardworking
teams!
More details to follow once the celebrations calm down!
-Jonathan 1/3/08
Duffy Epee And Directions
For those of you who are joining us in what promises to be a great weekend of fencing,
I have prepared a masterful map to guide you to our location. Best of luck in the competition and hope it
turns out to be a great weekend for all.
If you thought you could relax with your New Year celebrations finished, think again. DUFC is here to startle you with a new and improved training schedule for Fridays.
This changes the existing 2:00PM-3:30PM times to 3:00PM-5:00PM. An extra half an hour of fencing I hear you say? You're damn right it is.
The new times start this coming Fencing Friday(This day of the week will hereafter be referred to by this name), 17/01/2008 and continue until further notice.
Here's an updated timetable, bam!
Tuesday : 15:30 - 17:30 -- Reserved for squad Training Wednesday : 07:30 - 10:30 -- Reserved for Private lessons with Tristan Parris,which have to be booked 48 hours in advance, more details of these lessons and bookings can be gotten by contacting Eilis on carrolei tcd ie. Thursday : 19:00 - 21:00 -- Intermediate and Beginner Fencing. Friday : 15:00 - 17:00 -- Beginners' Fencing.
-Jonathan 17/10/07
Schull Report
Every year a novice compeition is held by UCC in Cork called "Schull". This year a small group of Trinity's finest descended upon it.
Our own self-proclaimed expert on the matter, Maria Treacy ( Going as far as to say that the women's cup should be named in her honour ;) ),
former women's champion of Schull, writes about this year's experience.
"The adventure to the Schull/Cork Novice Cup 2007 began at the snazzy new sports hall where kit, spools, boxes etc.
were packed into crippling bags for the journey to Busaras and to the bus to cork. Travellers included, amongst our
sprightly new recruits, Hyungsup, Anastasia, and Katelyn. Our war-weathered band of experienced fencers included Eilis,
Aoife and Jonathan. Maria tagged along to scout for possible raw intervarsity talent.
Some four hours later our ever enthused group made the very winding way to the hostel, weighed down with gear, getting
lost and somewhat disorientated along the way; Marias suggestions of getting a taxi every two minutes doing little for morale.
Accommodation being eventually found and latecomer Anastasia met, the crew made their way into Cork city to scavenge for food.
An out of the way Indian was found which was nice, warm and had an old lady behind
the till who listened in to our conversations and commented when she saw fit. Well fed and watered TCD then settled in for the night.
In the morning we made our 20 second journey to the Mardyke sports hall, did a bit of a warm-up (‘cause real athletes don’t have
to bother with a rigorous warm-up) and the games began…
Hyungsup was drawn into a poule of tall, hairy men but fenced extremely well against his opponents use of brute force alone. Jonathan was drawn into a beatable
poule of UCD newbies and the like, coming out on top as was expected. The ladies Aoife, Eilis and Katelyn also battled well, Anastasia being grouped into a particularly
difficult poule, meeting awkward beginners and more experienced fencers alike.
The D to the E soon commenced, Katelyn and Eilis being very unlucky to be drawn together in an extremely tight match, Eilis winning 15-14. Eilis went on to meet a
tough UCD opponent and was knocked out finally ranking 7th out of 19. Anastasia, despite breaking her hair-clip also fenced valiantly. Aoife progressed the furthest
out of all the TCD ladies, using her years experience and eventually being ranked 5th out of 19.
As for the valiant men of Trinitah, Hyungsup fenced extremely well using his few months experience and a few lessons 3-4 years ago to great success, finally being
placed 19th out of 35. Our amazing and talented webmaster fenced his way into his second D.E., only losing out 14-15 in a long and thrilling match with some guy who was definitely on drugs,
taking steroids or who had been fencing for at least ten years.
The mens final was between Paul from UCC and Simon from UCD, the ladies between Loraine from UCC and Aoife from UCD. Cork got their double whammy (all due to their club
captain Michalis apparently) and Trinity went back to the hostel uninjured and happy with the days fencing.
Jonathan had to leave early for ‘work’ but redeemed himself somewhat by taking bluey our beloved sports bag back home, Anastasia had to leave early too,
but the rest of the crew made ready for the night out. The over-pirced meal was had and the cheesy disco followed; no karaoke through thank Christ (last
years rendition of Queens Bohemian Rhapsody that never ended still ringing in our ears).
The Boat Race of 2007 was one that shall live in infamy. For the lads, Hyungsup being deserted by Johnathan was still a good sport. As for the ladies,
Eilis and Aoife came out victorious against an increasingly irate and rat-arsed drunk UCD side- afterward complaints as to the validity of drinking water
in a boat race went to show how desperately bad they wanted it (haw haw).
Leaving full and happy TCD then made their way home.
Congrats and thanks to UCC for the competition and training starts now for our newbie champions for next year. :)"
Happy New Year
Here's your fencing club wishing you a happy and fencing-full new year. Remember that there are a lot of competitions coming up in the new year,
and that if you don't know already, you need a fencing licence to attend many of them. It's only two euro for your first year.
Details of competitions coming up are on the "Competitions" page available through the link on the left.
If you have any questions about competitions and whether fellow DUFCers will be going, just ask one of our committee members in training.
-Jonathan 10/01/08
Irish Student Fencing Championships and Schull
May I extend my personal and the club's congratulations to all of the Trinity fencers who fenced in the Student Fencing Championships in DCU,
especially to Louis Arron who placed first in men's foil and Kate Harvey who placed first in women's foil. Congratulations are
also due for Ali Mahdavirad who placed joint third in men's sabre, Colm Flynn who placed fifth in men's
epee and everyone else who took part in TCD.
Also, best of luck to all of the Trinity fencers who will be taking part in the Schull Novice competition especially to myself. :)
Our in-house European Studies expert Maria Treacy won the women's competition there last year and we hope to make this year another successful one.
-Jonathan 07/11/07
Let's get into Training
Seeing as we've started a new year, it's about time we started training, so without further delay, let me show you the times that fencing training will take place for the academic year 2007 - 2008.
Tuesday : 15:30 - 17:30 -- Reserved for squad Training Wednesday : 07:30 - 10:30 -- Reserved for Private lessons which have to be booked 48 hours in advance, more details of these lessons will follow shortly. Thursday : 19:00 - 21:00 -- Intermediate and Beginner Fencing. Friday : 14:00 - 15:30 -- Beginners' Fencing, showing you the basic techniques of fencing. Saturday : 10:00 - 12:00 -- Beginners' Fencing for the next few weeks to show you the ropes of how to stab people effectively.
Please take some time to read our Club Safety Policy >
-Jonathan 09/10/07
Reception
Hey guys. We are holding an illustrious reception to welcome in all of you newly appointed sword swishers next today, October 9th, at 6PM. There will be refreshments provided and it promises to be a good time. There will be many a fencer there to regail you with past tales of the club's history and such.
-Jonathan 09/10/07
New Year, New Committee
Hey everyone out there in the world of fencing. I'd like to extend a welcome to the new committee and welcome all of the new students to Trinity this year. Take a gawk at our commmittee page for a more in-depth analysis on who'll be running the show around here for 2007-2008. Look out for us on freshers' week, we'll most likely be brandishing all sorts of weaponry for various poking and slicing routines. I'll be soon to update this page with all of our times for training very shortly. See you soon!
-Jonathan 17/9/07
2006/'07 News
New Sports Centre Now Open
Trinity's brand new sports centre has now been opened, with a full range of facilities to put the old Luce Hall to shame. Training will continue at the same times as last term (see below), but will now all take place in the new centre's Ancillary Hall, which not only provides more space than we've had until now, but also has our new armoury directly attached. For more info on the facilities themselves, along with pricing details for membership, etc. check out the new TCD sport website.
