When I said "break a leg," I didn't mean,,,,

I know I haven't been posting, but I have been training; which one is more important? Right?

On Monday I did 3 circuits of the estate. I'm not sure I like running in circles: it's pretty dull.

On Tuesday, I was fencing in Pembroke. Other then myself, Tilman, and Evegeniy, it was all girls! The mind boggles! I was fencing terrible. It's typical really, you fence well in competition, and then try to carry that into training the next week, but instead you just do terrible.

I took a rest yesterday, if you include the competition at the weekend, I'd been on the go for 4 days with only a 1 day break on Friday. I'll take a nice long run when I get to UCD this evening.

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The Easts were really enjoyable. Loads of people entered for all the weapons including contingents from Holland, and Britain. I fencing in the sabre on the Saturday and the Foil on the Sunday. I did poorly in the poole and ended up meeting Dr. Jack in the last 16, However I fenced really well and got through that fight to meet Jeremy Fullford-Copeland in the last 8. I lost to him 15-14, silly really. I'll fence better next time I meet him.

I would also have fenced in the epee on Saturday morning, except the entry form said I could only enter one weapon on the one day. It's strange only fencing sabre on 1 day. The fights are so short, that you end the day feeling you haven't done any work at all.

On Sunday, in the foil, I fenced really well. I won all the fights in my poole (including a 5-4 over the Naglemeister). I got a buy into round 2, the last 32, where I met a guy from Britain, who wasn't bad per-say, but just didn't have the timing to really compete with me.

In the last 16 I met, Hakkan from Turkey. He's a left hander, and he kicked my butt in the Duffy Epee, so I wasn't taking any chances. I won the fight 15-5, but the score definitely doesn't reflect how hard the match was, I fought for every point.

In the last 8 I met Colm Doyle, another left hander, and member of the Irish foil squad. Colm has knocked me out of competitions in the past, so again I was taking nothing for granted. I fenced well and got a through 15-9.

In the semis it was David Alexander, another left-hander (just a sec, I'm starting to see a pattern). David's blade work was just too good for me, and this I where I bowed out of the competition. David went on to win; the final was against Conor, and the score was 15-7.
Grrrr: That's 1 more point then I got.

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I'd just like to point out that I placed higher in the foil then any of the Irish foil team members (any they were all there, trust me!). Of course, after saying that, Darius (a member of the foil team), in the sabre, placed higher then the whole sabre team.

Perhaps we should swap places...

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The weekend didn't get by however without injuries, and the UCD intervarsity team was hit hard. CaptainOwen lost much of a finger-nail, and bent back his thumb badly, in a clash of guards with team-mate Julian; Darius limped off at the end of his last-16 match against Evegeniy, with a possibly torn quadricep; and Hanna, our new rising epee star, managed to get through the competition unscathed, but succeeded in breaking her leg in a petrol station, afterwards!