The Devon Senior Fencing Championships at Tavistock were well supported, with seven fencers from the Sidmouth and East Devon Fencing Club competing.

The Devon Senior Fencing Championships at Tavistock were well supported, with seven fencers from the Sidmouth and East Devon Fencing Club competing.

Entries were so high this year that the men's sabre event had to be postponed. In both the foil and ep�e events men and women fenced together in a poule unique, and then separated for the direct elimination.

In the women's foil, Grace Williams, seeded no. 1, met a fellow GB fencer in the final. Grace's older opponent's fencing demanded the utmost from Grace, who met the challenge, remaining narrowly in the lead throughout to finally win 15-11 and take the Devon title.

Mother and daughter, Angela and Isla Findlay were both on top form, spurred on by the earlier bouts with the men, they achieved well-deserved joint third places. Thirteen year old Megan Barnes, now qualifying to enter adult competition, rose to the occasion, showing determination and a steadily increasing level of skill and confidence.

In the men's foil, both Colin Price and Nigel Manning sometimes found it difficult to get the timing and distance right against opponents who were seasoned competitors, but made steady progress throughout the day.

After three hours of continuous foil fencing, some of the battle weary fencers then went on to compete in the ep�e event. Isla Findlay won the majority of her poule matches, placing her as second seed for the Direct Elimination. In an exciting final, she was eventually beaten 5-10 by the current U18 British Silver medallist.

Angela Findlay, relatively new to ep�e, had a fantastic result, finishing third overall. Her poule matches went very well, with only a few defeats, one of which was to fellow club fencer, Colin Price, when the referee wrongly awarded the final point to Colin, even though both fencers advised the referee that it was Angela's point.

Price gained some valuable experience from fencing in this two weapon competition.

In the ep�e, normally his preferred weapon, his poule matches did not go as well as he had hoped, leaving him a tough match in the DE.

However, he recovered enough energy to have a well-fought match, narrowly losing 6-10.

Lucy Williams proved she is making a good recovery from her Achilles tendon injury by coming seventh in the women's foil and winning the silver medal in the women's sabre.

This brought Sidmouth's medal count to six with a Gold, two Silver and three Bronze medals.