The RAFFU Military Anniversary Tournament (One Hit Epee) was held, by kind permission of the Commandant of DCAE, Air Commodore S R Sims OBE BSc CEng MRAeS DLUT RAF, at RAF Cosford on Saturday 24 Sep 05.

An increased turn-out on previous years saw 36 fencers arranged into 12 teams, facing 11 rounds of fencing and the Invitational Match afterwards, all to an extremely tight schedule.

Individual. The individual competition found representatives from the RAF, RN and Veterans all vying for the top spot early on, with Lt Cdr Adrian Olliver leading from the front and Sqn Ldr Andy Alcock and Flt Lt Jon Davy always doing enough to stay in contention. A late-comer to the race, Andy Mair made up a lot of lost ground in the last few rounds to sneak up into 2 nd place with 27 victories, just ahead of joint 3 rd place holders Andy Alcock and Cdr Matt Clark. After leading all the way though, Adrian Olliver held out eventually win the Seletar Cup with 29 victories.

Team. In the team event, the relatively inexperienced fencers from RAF Boulmer found themselves vying with the all female team from RAF Kirton-in-Lindsey in the Inter Unit competition. With both teams managing to achieve 1 match victory, it was total individual victories which gave the McEwan Cup to RAF Kirton-in-Lindsey with 31 victories against 26. In the scratch team event 4 teams vied from the start to take the Charles Mott Memorial Trophy; the RN team, The Lost Sheep, FlyColMan, RAF fencers Jon Davy, Flt Lt Sarah Chambers and JT Gary Brailsford, and Nooking Futters, another all RAF team of Andy Alcock, Wg Cdr Dave Orme and Cpl Rob Desforges. Things remained incredibly close throughout, but it was to be The Lost Sheep who edged out a narrow margin to take the trophy with 10 match victories over the RN who had 9 and Nooking Futters with 8. Two other teams also had 8 match victories but it was individual results that made the difference.

Ladies. The Ladies event this year was quite open right up until the final stages of the competition, with Lt Sacha Brooks, Sarah Chambers and Moya McNamara running head to head throughout the day. As the later stages of the competition took their toll, Sacha slipped behind and it was Moya who finished 12 th overall with 21 victories to finish as the highest placed female, with Sarah close behind with 18 victories.

Veterans. Of the Veterans competing, it was Andy Mair who demonstrated the greatest consistency throughout the day, taking the Highest Placed Veteran title with a highly respectable 27 victories (and 2 nd place overall). The Oldest Veteran was once again Dr Austin Moore.

Invitational Team. The Invitational Team event was an exciting competition. Conscious of the clock ticking, the 4 teams were pre-seeded by the drawing of lots, with the 1st round matches taking place between the RAF v Veterans and Army v RN. Both the RAF and RN comfortably won their matches, setting up a 3 rd/4 th place play-off between the Veterans and the Army. The Veterans convincingly took apart the relatively inexperienced Army side, winning the bronze medal comfortably 45-16. The final was a nail-biter for the RAF, with the lead changing hands several times before the RAF team of Davy, Alcock and Orme eked out the narrowest of leads. This lead was slowly but surely chipped at by the RN team, particularly the last fight between Adrian Olliver and Andy Alcock and it was with some relief that the double-hits started to arrive. Andy managed to weather the storm though and finally the RAF retained the trophy won last year with a 45-41 victory.

Conclusion. A large turnout of fencers ensured that this competition was a great success. The standard of fencing on display was extremely high, and it was encouraging to see new faces mixed in among the old and bold, although the absence of the Civil Service team this year was a loss. My thanks go to the Armourer, JT Gary Brailsford and the team of Cosford fencers for setting up the gym and ensuring the competition could run as smoothly as it did. Thanks also have to go to Sgt Dave Long, DOC (Admin), for ensuring that all accommodation was available and for ensuring packed lunches were provided, allowing the event to run continually without the need for a break. The best news was that the amendments made to the scoring software after last year were hugely successful in calculating the winners automatically, and therefore I might actually be able to fence and run the event next year. My thanks go to the fencers for ensuring that they did their utmost to fence their matches as quickly as possible, adding to the smooth running of the day. Final thanks also go to the representative of the Sports Board, Gp Capt Atkinson, for making the presentations at the end of a highly enjoyable day’s fencing.

INdivIDUAL RESULTS
Fencer	Representing	Victories	Place
Adrian Olliver	RN	29	1
Andy Mair	Civil Service	27	2
Matt Clark	RN	26	3
Andy Alcock	RAF	26	3
Jon Davy	RAF	25	5
John Carleton	U/A	25	5
Pete Dewey	RAF	24	7
Ricky Howdle	Veterans	24	7
Charlie Unwin	Army	23	9
John Crouch	Veterans	23	9
Gary Brailsford	RAF	22	11
Georgina West	U/A	21	12
Moya McNamara	Veterans	21	12
Mick Meyer	Veterans	20	14
Dave Orme	RAF	20	14
Sarah Chambers	RAF	18	16
Sasha Brooks	RN	17	17
Doug Renton-Cooper	Veterans	17	17
Charles Read	Veterans	17	17
Austin Moore	Veterans	17	17
Rob Desforges	RAF	17	17
Michelle Scott	Army	16	22
Malcolm Napier-Holford	Army	16	22
Dave Neve	RAF	14	24
Tim Rushton	RAF	13	25
Brigette Morgan	RAF	12	26
Cat Kemeny	RAF	12	26
James Downes	RAF	12	26
Stu Sharp	RAF	12	26
Nige Whittaker	RAF	11	30
Hanna Adams	Army	11	30
Jeannie Saville	Army	10	32
Al Reynolds	RAF	9	33
Gareth Sessions	RAF	8	34
Karen Funnell	RAF	7	35
Aidy Lown	RAF	6	36

TEAM RESULTS
Team	Fencers	Match V	Team Total	Team Place
THE LOST SHEEP	Mick Meyer	10	69	1st Charles Mott Memorial Trophy
	Ricky Howdell
	John Carleton
RN	Matt Clark	9	72	2nd Charles Mott Memorial Trophy
	Adrian Olliver
	Sasha Brooks
FLYCOLMAN	Sarah Chambers	8	65	3rd Charles Mott Memorial Trophy
	Jon Davy
	Gary Brailsford
NOOKING FUTTERS	Rob Desforges	8	63	4th Charles Mott Memorial Trophy
	Dave Orme
	Andy Alcock
BITS AND PIECES	Andy Mair	8	62	5th Charles Mott Memorial Trophy
	Dave Neve
	Georgina West
ODDS AND SODS	Moya McNamara	6	53	6th Charles Mott Memorial Trophy
	John Crouch
	Al Reynolds
ARMY	Charlie Unwin	4	49	7th Charles Mott Memorial Trophy
	Michelle Scott
	Jeannie Saville
RANDOM ACTS	Pete Dewey	4	47	8th Charles Mott Memorial Trophy
	Nige Whittaker
	Stu Sharp
THE 215'S	Doug Renton-Cooper	3	51	9th Charles Mott Memorial Trophy
	Charles Read
	Austin Moore
ANOTHER MESS	Malcolm Napier-Holford	3	40	10th Charles Mott Memorial Trophy
	Hanna Adams
	Tim Rushton
RAF KIRTON-IN-LINDSEY	Brigette Morgan	1	31	1st McEwan Cup
	Karen Funnell
	Cat Kemeny
RAF BOULMER	Aidy Lown	1	26	2nd McEwan Cup
	Gareth Session
	James Downes