Fencing at the 2009 Nationals

The 2009 National Fencing Championships are being held this weekend over a four day period at Carlton University in Ottawa.

This is the first year that I have qualified in the four years I have been fencing. At 55 years old, I am very proud of this.

46 of us fenced in the men's Sabre event yesterday morning. There would have been 47 but Eric S., whom I fenced with at Beaches Sabre Club, had to bow out due to food poisoning. Lesson ... do not have fish or tarter sauce the night before competition!

It was a tough competition. How tough? In my poole of eight, I had to fence off against the #1 ranked fencer in Canada (who also is an Olympian), the 14th and 15th ranked fencers in the country plus two other top 30 fencers. My goal was to fence a technically sound day, have some effectiveness on defense and not end up last.

Like the Meatloaf song says, "Now don't be sad ... cause two out of three ain't bad", I ended up 46th, which in a tournament of 46, is last. And I'm not at all upset about it.

I came in and did what I wanted to do ... well, I really wanted to do it better and end up higher in the standings but what the heck!?.

My footwork was very good, my distance was excellent and I felt in some kind of control on defense, which is unusual for me.

I fenced well enough that when facing Vincent B., who finished 13th overall on the day, I had him in a 3-3 tie before losing 5-3. Chacho, pictured with me to the right, and I also were locked at three all before he took the last two points for the win.

Chacho's mother was there filming and captured my match against Philippe Beaudry, who is the Olympian. I am looking forward to seeing that tape even though he took me down 5-0. He also won gold on the day.

Next up is the North American Cup (NAC) in Pittsburgh. I am looking forward to this one as I get to play with kids my own age. I have the 40 and over event on Saturday and the 50 to 59 event on Sunday.

Some other shots, to the left is me, Sukveer and Chacho.

Here is Mark P. in action. I used to fence with Mark at my old club and he drops by every now and then to fence at Bladeworks Fencing. He finished the day with the bronze.

Here is Chacho in the first Direct Elimination (DE).

The Woman's Sabre was held afterwards. Here is Kayla (to the right) from Beaches in action. She finished 12th.