Derby Day

I don't even have to come up with an anagram for this one, which is nice. Yesterday I participated in Derby Day (pronounced Dahbee Day of course.) I was on the women's fencing team, which consisted of three members. We all had to participate in all three events- epee, foil, and sabre. We won every event! It was lovely! Here's the epee. None of the action shots worked because we were moving too quickly!

Here's how a fencing team competition works: we have three people who fence. The first bout is over when one of the people reaches 5 points. So, for the first weapon we started down 0-5 as the first person to go was worried. The next bout goes until one of the scores totals 10. Lily, the second person to go, reached 10 first for a total score of 10-7. Then I went and it ended something like 15-11. The game ends after all three people have gone three times. Theoretically the last fencer could win the game even if the team were losing by 30 points, so the last person normally is the best fencer.

We did sabre last because Lily, one of our teammates, is a french national fencer and does not know sabre, so it was our weakest weapon. I was the last fencer for sabre, and the score ended up being 44 all. It was so scary, but wonderful when I got the point. It was like those fun sports movies, but I was actually in it! Hoorah!
The Girl's Team after we won. Look at the joy! And, of course, the tiredness. We each had to fence nine times!

The male's team also won, but they only won by three points while we won by over 35 points. Their final game was also really exciting. Since it was Derby Day, there were over 30 sports and University of Essex was whomped, as they say. But we won! We celebrated on the bus back, though we were the only ones really celebrating as we were the only team on the bus to have won. I'll end this post the way we ended the night last night. Wooooo! High fives!