2021 Richard Emmerick Shield – round 1

 

How do you sum up such a excellent day?! Let's start with some numbers.

74 entrants in 16 events from 43 fencers together fencing 238 bouts and earning 49 medals in the comp – all proudly awarded by the eponymous Richard Emmerick.

But it wasn't just the scope of the event that stood out – it was its spirit. Smiling faces, cameraderie and fun was everywhere you looked! Not to mention sporting fairness and fencing excellence, and the revenge of Jobiwan Kenobi!

Above all, there was a joyful enthusiasm for helping out and making the day run well. This was seen in parents fuelling competition officials with coffee and croissants, senior fencers helping younger fencers with gear, referees explaining their calls in detail for fencers who had never experienced a competition before, a host of people sanitising equipment right through the day, fencers arriving early to help set up and staying late to help pack up, and so many other things. We even had MFC's Soft Armourer, Michelle Perry, at her desk repairing gear throughout the day while also managing to cook the BBQ! Plus, people spontaneously taking bags of washing from the mountain piled up at the end of the day! Fantastic!

And to top it all off we raised $280 which will cover a new larger rack for the club plastrons and lamés as well as the software licence to run the three rounds of the comp for this year. Big thanks to everyone who bought a fundraising patch before, during and after the day.

Holding these events and having them be fun and exciting and (reasonably) orderly is a massive, collective, effort. It would be impossible without so many hands helping in so many ways. So, thankyou to everyone who contributed – together we made an amazing day!

Final results are now up on the club website, and points scored by individuals for their Grex teams will go up soon!