The first weekend in March is always set aside for the National Veteran Fencing Championships in Gloucester. Four of our regional fencers were represented over the three days of competition.

Day 1 was devoted for sabre events with Duncan Rowlands and Beth Davidson from Laszlo’s Fencing Club carving their way into the finals. Beth was first up in the gold medal bout against former World Champion Jane Hutchison. After a slightly shaky start, Beth got into her stride beating Jane 10-6 to take the National title for the 3rd time in a row.

Duncan Rowlands had a more challenging path by narrowly beating Keith Rogerson 10-9 in the semi-final but took a more comfortable fight against Steve Moore 10-6. In the final Duncan was facing Commonwealth Champion, Rob Penton but was unable to keep momentum loosing 10-6, achieving the silver medal.

Sunday was for the epee events, seeing Chris Cranston-Selby from Darlington Sword Club in his first national outing and Carole Seheult from Laszlo’s Fencing. Both Chris and Carole didn’t have the best of start in the poules with no victories. After a lot of frustrating technical problems Chris’s first direct elimination changed for the better beating higher ranked William Osbaldeston 8-7! His next fight started well against Brian Millo but couldn’t maintain the lead, finally loosing 10-8. Chris was placed 32nd and Carole Seheult 31st.