A total of 21 points separated the first three teams in the first ever British Open Fencing Trophy Championships staged in Midlands.
There were 12 two-man teams entered in this first contest of its kind and it was Morgan Fencing and HVB who came out top 18 points ahead of PDR Contracting and SRM Fencing. In third place, just another three points behind, was MJ Evans.
Sponsored by fencing and farm specialists McVeigh Parker, the competition was based on an agricultural specification and was part of the APF Forestry event staged in Warwickshire.
‘The competitors were allowed some power tools, but it was all down by hand,’ said Stuart Mills, sales director at McVeigh Parking Fencing. ‘The intricacy in the wirework is extremely skilled. Competitors have to be at the top of their game.’
A total of 12 two-man teams took part in the contest which organisers maintain is the only ‘open’ championship of its kind in the UK.
Teams had to erect 60-metres of stock fencing in four hours. The fence had to consist of one turn and have a diagonal strutted strainer one end and a box strainer on the other. Each fence line had to be cut centrally and joined by way of a fencer’s knot.
Teams used Xfence stiff stay X-knot wire netting.
Strainrite XT1 ratchet insulators one end enabled controlled tensioning. An electric top line using Gallagher insulators was erected to complete the fence.
‘Points were won and lost on the overall straightness of the fence, how vertical the posts were, how neatly the struts weree fitted to strainers, wire tensioned to the manufacturer’s guidelines, strength and neatness of the knots used on the wire and netting,’ said Mills.
Judges were Ross Heaven, Ash Lane, Marc Preston and Pete Clark, CEO of the Association of Fencing Industries.
The winners took home the inaugural British Open Fencing trophy plus an XFence 200cc Drifta kart, which was sponsored by McVeigh Parker.
‘We staged the competition on a slight slope to provide a real test of skill and experience,’ said Mills.
McVeigh Parker ran open workshops during the show demonstrating the Triple X all steel fencing stewardship grant approved system.
