The STC and Inter Command Fencing Championships were held with kind permission of the Station Commander, RAF Cosford, in the main gymnasium on 14-15 Feb 04. Again the present situation in Iraq and other Out Of Area detachments reduced the number of fencers, but not the spirit or determination from all those present. The Ladies and Men's competitions were combined to ensure a good level of competition for all, with the ladies results being taken from the overall placings.

Sabre
The sabre drew an entry of 17 fencers, ten more than the previous year, who competed in one seeding round followed by direct elimination. After the seeding round, Flt Lt Mark Deakin and Sgt Phil McNulty emerged as the top two seeds, followed closely by Cpl Dave Long. Fg Off Sharon Booth led the ladies competition after the first round and Flt Lt's Maggie Boyle and Cat Kemeny gave credible performances against stiff competition from the men. Sharon managed to finish in tenth place overall, giving her a first place in the ladies event with Maggie Boyle in second.

The men's quarter finals saw first placed seed Mark Deakin beat Roger Honeywood 15-6 to earn a place in the semi-final. Phil McNulty narrowly beat Ian Wren 15-12 to take his place in the next round and Rauri Henderson-Begg beat Rob Desforges 15-10. The last semi-final place went to Dave Long who beat Nigel Whittaker 15-10. The men's semi-final saw the No.1 seed Mark beaten by the better fencer on the day, Rauri 15-13. Equally exciting was the second semi-final which pitched arch sabre rivals Phil McNulty and Dave Long. The match was evenly matched all the way to the finish with Dave just snatching victory 15-14 to earn a well deserved place in the final. As expected the final saw some terrific fencing with the lead exchanging several times during the early stages. Eventually though, Rauri managed to keep his nerve for longer and took the sabre title beating Dave 15-12.

Foil
Eighteen fencers entered the foil competition, which followed the same format as the sabre. The seeding round produced a good standard of fencing with excellent results from Flt Lt's Jon Davy and Rauri Henderson-Begg, being ranked first and second after the first round. The ladies featured well in the foil, with the more experienced fencer, Sharon Booth, finishing in a very respectable position overall, providing her with her second 1st place in the ladies competition. Maggie Boyle once again managed to pip Cat Kemeny to the second place and Louise Nunn fenced incredibly well against a very difficult poule. The men's semi-final matched last year's foil runner-up, Dave Long against Jon Davy. Unfortunately for Dave, he was unable to retain his runners up prize and lost to Jon 15-9. The second semi-final paired Phil McNulty against Rauri Henderson-Begg. Both men fenced beautifully, but Phil was just pipped at the post by Rauri 15-13. The final proved to be an exciting match as left hander Rauri matched Jon point for point through two sets of three minutes. Eventually Rauri's determination finally won through and he took the foil title beating Jon 15-11.

Epee
The second day of fencing drew a poule of seventeen fencers with the format following that of the previous day. The seeding rounds produced some strong competition and a good level of fencing. Rob Desforges unfortunately had to withdraw due to injury which allowed Cat Kemeny her first taste of the direct elimination round. Although beaten by her Unit coach, she put up a respectable fight, losing to Jon Davy 15-10. Louise Nunn and Maggie Boyle both fought admirably against their more experienced opponents with Maggie losing to the eventual runner-up, Gaz Morris 15-4 and Louise losing to last year's epee winner Dave Long 15-6. Unfortunately Sharon Booth did not qualify for the epee, which left the title of Ladies Master at Arms open to the remaining female fencers.

Jon Davy and Rauri Henderson-Begg faceds each other again, this time in the first of the men's epee semi-finals. Rauri managed to have the edge on Jon throughout the fight and beat him 15-8, taking him into his third final of the weekend. The second semi-final matched Ian Wren of Leuchars and his team mate and sparring partner, Gaz Morris of Leuchars. Although the bout was evenly matched, Gaz managed to keep his nerve for longer beating team mate Ian 15-8. Rauri on his third final of the championships had to work hard against the newcomer. Gaz ensured Rauri didn't run away with the competition completely and bravely battled his way through the final only to lose to the man of the weekend 15-11.

Master-At-Arms
The men’s Master-at-Arms trophy went unsurprisingly to Flt Lt Rauri Henderson-Begg whose focused determination ensured he won all three weapons outright, making him the undisputed men's Master at Ar,s champion. The ladies title was won by Flt Lt Maggie Boyle with a consistent second place in all three weapons.

Inter Unit 3-Man Team
Three teams competed for the INter Unit 3-Man Team, Lossiemouth, Leuchars and Coltishall. The sabre was won by Leuchars, with Nigel Whittaker winning both his fights followed by Coltishall with one victory and Lossiemouth bringing up the rear. Lossiemouth were victorious in the epee, as Rauri Henderson-Begg, hot on the heels of his Master at Arms victory, won both of his fights. Coltishall came second with one victory and Leuchars finished in third place. It was all down to the last fight in foil as Jon Davy of Coltishall and Roger Honeywood of Leuchars both had one victory. This time Coltishall snatched victory as Jon Davy beat Louise Nunn of Lossiemouth to win the foil weapon and ensure Coltishall were the Inter Unit 3-Man Team champions.

Inter Command Competition
The competition was run as STC against PTC, with three fencers per weapon. The foil and the epee team including champion Henderson-Begg, Long, Davy, Morris and McNulty managed to convincingly destroy the PTC opposition. The sabre team fought bravely but lost to a strong PTC team which included last year's STC Sabre champion, now fencing for PTC, Mark Gumley. The final results added together ensured that STC regained the Inter Command Champions title.

Conclusion
The Command Championships proved once again to be a very popular and successful competition. An extremely high level of fencing was displayed by all those involved. It was encouraging to see new faces fencing during the weekend and it is hoped to see these rising stars at the next series of competitions. I would like to add my thanks to all those fencers who helped prepare the hall ready for fencing on the Saturday morning and everyone who helped clear away after the competition, your help is very much appreciated. My thanks go to Sgt Phil McNulty for his assistance as Director of Combats and to JT Gary Brailsford for his outstanding efforts as RAFFU Armourer.