2010 ended with my sixth and final time at the Cadet Winton National Championships - having competed for the East Midlands for the joint longest consecutive time in it's history. In 2011, having won the East Midlands U18s BYC Qualifier the weekend before, I began the year's national Senior Open circuit in Liverpool, on Saturday 19th February, finishing in 3rd place.
The Merseyside Open is one of the oldest open fencing competitions in the country, having started in 1938, and made a good start to the new competitive year. The standard of entry this year was high as always, with a team of Irish fencers providing added competition. With a total of 72 experienced fencers, the competition provided an excellent weekend of preparation for the calendar's larger Senior competitions - notably the Birmingham International and the National Senior Championships.
Finishing in 3rd place was a good result, yet more importantly a tough journey to the semi-finals and several tactically-intense fights provided a great source of experience and good practice. Dropping only one fight out of ten in the two poules, I was seeded 12th and went on to have a further 4 Direct Elimination fights to secure a medal position (each to 15 hits). Fencing a fast left-handed fencer in the last 16 proved interesting; as an opponent who favoured hits aimed below the fencing arm, choosing to adopt a closed and defensive guard proved to be a successful strategy.
The competition has, in many ways, been a prologue to the upcoming series of competitions. In additional to the Senior Circuit, the British Youth Championships in April will join the spectrum of U20s competitions that I aim to have equal success in later on in the year.
