By kind permission of Commandant of DCAE, Air Commodore NW Gammon MA MSc BSc CEng FRAeS MCMI RAF, the RAFFU Spring Series of Competitions was held at RAF Cosford over the period 08-10 Feb 08.

The RAFFU Spring Series is a replacement for the RAF Command Fencing Championships and, as such, the format contained a degree of experimentation, most of which was generally successful. As has been the case for most recent RAFFU competitions, the current operational tempo had a noticeable effect on turnout, with reduced numbers of personnel available for the competition. Nonetheless, the competition attracted both established and new fencers at a range of abilities and experience levels.

Due to the low number of entries, the Novice Foil event was not completed; it has been rescheduled and will be run in 12/13 Apr 08 as part of the RAFFU Senior Championships, when it is hoped that more novice fencers will be available.

A high priority for the RAFFU is to ensure that as many fencers, of all abilities, have access to regular, consistent coaching. In support of this aim, Mr Paul Neil-McGlaughlin of Allstar UK provided 2 days of group and individual lessons over the competition period. Group lessons were subsidised by the RAFFU while individual lessons were available at competitive rates. Over half of the fencers present took advantage of the opportunity for individual lessons from a well respected national standard coach; an encouraging reflection of general RAFFU recognition of the importance of high quality instruction.

The main departure from previous competitions was the introduction of a handicap system for the 3 main wpn competitions. The handicap system was developed such that, compared to a Junior RAFFU fencer, a fencer with RAF Representational Colours would have a one hit disadvantage in a poule fight and a 3 hit disadvantage in a Direct Elimination fight, while a fencer with Combined Service Representational Colours would have a 2 hit and 6 hit disadvantage. While the handicap system appears on the surface to have had little effect on final placings achieved during the competition, there is no dispute that it made the competition much more even than has previously been the case and many a senior fencer was hard pressed to make up the deficit against some of the more gifted juniors. The general consensus was that the handicap system was a good idea and it will be amended next year to ensure that all fencers have as much opportunity to progress through the competition as possible.

Sabre

The first event to be fenced was sabre. With a field of 13, the obvious dark horse was SAC Rich Whelan from Lyneham who, worryingly for most people, turned up with his own kit. SAC Whelan took up fencing through a civilian club 8 months ago and read about the competition on the RAFFU website. After a single round of poules, an incomplete tableau of 16 was drawn up and the direct elimination started in earnest. Despite some narrow escapes by senior fencers, the Semi-finals looked fairly standard, with Fg Off Graeme Hart’s experience leaving him as No 1 seed, ahead of sabre stalwart Sgt Dave Long and Fg Off Graham Orme. However, SAC Whelan had surprised many people and shown considerable maturity and talent to also make the last 4. He was unfortunate to be drawn against Fg Off Hart in the semi-final where, despite the handicap, Graeme’s greater experience won through in the end. In the other semi-final Sgt Long managed to fend off Fg Off Orme’s attempts to oust him and set up a final against Fg Off Hart. In the final, Fg Off Hart’s greater experience and overall match fitness proved to o much for Sgt Long, leaving Graeme the winner at the end of the match.

Foil

After lunch it was time for the foil competition. With a larger field it was decided to run 2 rounds of poules before the direct elimination in order to let the handicap system bite. All 3 poules were fairly even and hard work for all fencers; however, after the seeding rounds the top 4 seeds were all familiar faces. An incomplete tableau of 32 was drawn up and worked through. Flt Lt Sharon Booth’s performance was notable; despite, at times a hefty handicap she dispatched several capable fencers to end up in 5 th place, one of the highest placings attained by a lady in the last few years. In the semi-finals Fg Off Graham Orme’s longer reach and defensive tactics were sufficient to overcome the No 1 Seed, Sqn Ldr Henderson-Begg, whose finishing left something to be desired, while the cunning of Phil McNulty, in his latest incarnation as Off Cdt McNulty was unsuccessfully pitched against the youth and enthusiasm of Fg Off Graeme Hart, setting up a final between the 2 Fg Offs. In the event Fg Off Hart’s point control and distance were better than Sqn Ldr Henderson-Begg’s had been, enabling him to convincingly beat Fg Off Orme into second place.

Epee

After a sociable evening, Sunday morning dawned bright and early and brought with it the epee competition. As ever, the epee attracted the most enthusiasm from most fencers with the poules being closer than either of the other wpns. The handicaps given to the senior fencers proved particularly difficult to over come and required a large amount of tactical fencing during the 2 rounds of poules. Following the poules and a tableau of 16, the semi finalists were Sqn Ldr Henderson-Begg, Flt Lt Jon Davy, Fg Off Graham Orme and SAC(T) Dave Neve. The semi-final between Sqn Ldr Henderson-Begg and Fl Lt Jon Davy came down to the last point and the fight between Fg Off Orme and SAC(T) Dave Neve was, in tension if not in points, just as close but in the end the final was between Sqn Ldr Henderson-Begg and Fg Off Orme. Although the lower seed, Fg Off Graham Orme was the early favourite to win as the more experienced epeeist; however, Sqn Ldr Henderson-Begg appeared intent on revenge for his defeat in the foil and pressed him relentlessly. Despite some very good defensive fencing, Sqn Ldr Henderson-Begg’s desire to win proved to be the stronger and he emerged as the clear winner.

Master At Arms

In the Master-at-Arms Competition, a lack of forethought from Sqn Ldr Henderson-Begg and Fg Off Hart, who only entered 2 events each saw Fg Off Orme romp home as the overall winner with 2 second places and a victory.

Overall, though operational commitments and the usual spate of winter illnesses limited attendance at this important RAFFU event some high quality fencing was evident throughout the weekend. The handicap system and the provision of high quality coaching support ensured that fencers of all abilities were able to take something away from the weekend. The weekend would not have been possible without the efforts of the events team and specials mention is due for the effort of SAC Dean Whitehead and Cpl Odette Scutt, who both invested a lot of time and effort into the smooth running of the event. Both are junior members of the committee who displayed significant maturity and ability in the organisation of the weekend's events.