Merry Christmas !

...  and more fun and challenging opponents in 2014 !

Come for the stabbin`- stay for the madness : A great day out !!!
The West of Ireland Open 2013

Mark Loughnane, Roland Hajas and me started on the epee competition on Saturday 26thOct.2013.
My wife Nicole took the videos from most of our fights. (A bit focused on the old man - sorry lads !)

But let`s start with the end :
A remarkable crime story of a final - presented by Eamonn McGrattan and Geoffrey Corcoran :

1st period



2nd period



3rd period



But what about our ravens ?

Early in the Morning - the old fencing bags are still scattered all over the place :

1. The warm up was over - ready or not....



2. First pool - Rainer vs. ???  Sorry, I can`t remember the name. If you know my opponent`s name - please send me a comment !



3. That`s a nice fight : Mark vs. Brendan Masterson - and Brendan made it !!!



4. Rainer vs. ??? (Again, please send me a comment if you know my opponents name...)



5. Rainer vs. Colm Flynn : Jes.., that was tight. Thanks for the lesson, Colm ! - but next time...  ;-)



6. Rainer vs. Richard Adams : With an interruption - therefore here in two parts.





7. Roland vs. ??? (Who is it ? Help !...)



8. Rainer vs. Brendan Masterson

 

9. Mark vs. Exequiel Monge-Allen (Please correct me if the name is wrong...)
 


10. Here I am getting in trouble : Mark kicked me out ! He was perfect on my wrist - left me no chance this day....
Well done, Mark !





Overwhelmed by the sheer enjoyment about my former student`s success a towel helped to keep
my emotions under control   X-)

11. But after this "easy going" with me he came seriously under pressure : Mark vs. Maxton Milner
What a footwork ! Our best raven was kicked out here - but anyway : Great fight !!!



For all results please visit the IFF website :

Official West of Ireland 2013 results

The following day Mark also started in the foil competition. Not really his weapon - but from that perspective his ranking as 17th is even more remarkable :

A Sunday Morning extra session in Milltown again...

Adam vs. Roland

New training times !

From now on three training sessions in Milltown and Tuam per week !

Some good news : We arranged a new training slot at KingFisher in Tuam. Our session there is now on Fridays 8.00 to 10.00 pm. The management of the Milltown Community Center offered us again a slot for fencing sessions on Wednesdays 6.00 to 8.00 pm. This is a very good opportunity for all fencers and beginners who might have a problem to make it at weekends.
Occasionally we still meet on Sunday Mornings 10.30 am to around 1.00 pm for a few more fights or special lessons for whoever is interested.

Here we are on Thursdays, 8 to 10pm.

The Kingfisher hall in Tuam : Fencers still look a bit "alien" here - but it`s a great location for this sport.

Fencing training now on Thursday evenings in Tuam !

Last week we did our first trial at Kingfisher Club in Tuam. It turned out to be a perfect location for fencing.
Therefore we really appreciate to have our new training slot here on Thursdays 8pm to 10pm.



Donal and Roland : A first fight in Tuam.

Mark helped us to disclose an old mystery in arts !

Mona Lisa`s winning smile - now easy to explain :

Leonardo caught her after a successful fencing competition !

What a fight !

I know it`s a pretty old video clip (October 2011) - but I had to blog it. Two of the best fencers we ever had in our club : 

Ellison Arroyo from Puerto Rico (left) and Mark Loughnane show psychological warfare, speed and focus at it`s finest. 

My favourite video clip !!!
What fencing is about ? This clip says it all.....

Reblogged from   http://esgrimasam.tumblr.com/
the outstanding blog of the Esgrima SAM Barcelona fencing club. Thanks a lot for this !!!

Old fossil back to life again !

That`s how the good ol`Uhlmann reel - another example of indestructible german engineering in a row with the famous Lanz Bulldog - looks like after all the sweat, blood and tears ;-)
I hope it`s ready now for another 30 Years of relentless service for the fencing sport. I definitely don`t mind to wait a while till I have to put my fingers into it again....  X-D.

"We boldly go where no one was before."

We are still looking for an appropriate location to do one training session per week in the city of Galway or at least close to it. Therefore we really appreciated the invitation of the Claregalway Boxing and Kickboxing club to use their facilities to cross our blades. Tom, Egis and me had really good fun.

Keep on rollin`....

In our training session last Wednesday one of the club fossils simply gave up. No, it wasn`t me -
just the last ancient Uhlmann reel went on strike.....

To find out where it hurts you just have to open the housing on the connector-free side and lift the brown spring pack cover very carefully. You better put a helmet on....

....and that`s where the fun starts !
An hour later it was clear that the inner one of the three springs is broken. Tomorrow I will try a bit surgery and hopefully save the old patient.

"Onward into countless battles"  (Unleashed)
After a couple of weeks of intense preparation Roland Hajas (left) made his first epee fight :
Donal was his first oponent - and a real challenge....

Safety first for our newbies ! Thanks a million, Valeo !

Now for 2013 the company Valeo (Tuam) sponsored our club. To increase the safety for all beginners we used that money to buy two 1600N epee masks and two manual epees for bladework lessons.

Good ol`times....

All Ireland Epee Team Championchip 2012 in Limerick. Can we not just do that again in 2013 ? (Bronze medals at the end of it for two CFC teams - here are the "matured nightmares", from left to the right: Donal Burke, Rainer Bolte, Igor Barkowski.)

A nice fight.....

It was in the papers years ago - but is still soooo valid !

Hi all - here we are !!! 
 

This is the brand new blog of our fencing club CFC
in County Galway, Rep. of Ireland.

About us :

Good fun since 2010 !

• Founder : Rainer Bolte (Captain and Coach for foil and epee.)
• Official training sessions started in May 2010.
• Official club status (IFF) since April 2012.

We are

• 11 club members (at the moment - consistently growing....)
• 8 competition fencers
• 3 beginners

Our training sessions :

• Main sessions on Sundays 10am in the Community Center in Milltown, Tuam.
• Tuesdays 6:00 pm in the HIPKIDZ hall, Briarhill, Galway.
• Wednesdays (occasionally) 6:30 pm in the Community Center in Milltown, Tuam.

For details please call Rainer Bolte, mob.: 0879354294 
or drop him a mail : chiropteryx@gmail.com