Best of British

Lloyd Osborne spearheaded a strong club performance at the British Yourh Championship in early May by winning the under-16 British title. RTWFC’s fencers also picked up two bronzes and two ‘extended podium’ places over three days of competition as the club underlined its status as one of the strongest youth epee fencing clubs in the country.

Lloyd, having finished as runner-up in the U14 age group two years ago, was determined to take his chance and go one step further this time. Following a strong start in the poules and a comfortable first two knockout rounds, Lloyd then had to dig deep to keep progressing. In the quarter-final, his opponent started like a whirlwind, leaving Lloyd to claw his way back from 2-7 down for a thrilling 15-14 win, while in the semi-final Lloyd had to quell a classic comeback to again score a one-point victory. Phew! In the final, ‘Lord Airborne’ fenced immaculately to score a 15-12 win over the top seed. Lloyd then climbed to the top step of the medal rostrum with his customary podium poker face.

Competing on the same day, Eilidh Paterson, 14, bagged a brilliant bronze in the U16 girls event, having turned a 10-12 deficit into a 15-13 win in a high-quality quarter, while on the final day 10-year-old Artemis Nakos took bronze in the U12 event. Add to this our quarter-finalists Izzie D’Abbraccio and Miles Raymond, and a slew of strong performances from the rest of the team, and the BYCs 2024 were RTWFC’s best national youth results to date.