Capping off a fantastic sporting year, Royal Holloway Fencing have been shortlisted for British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) Club of the Year. This is a tremendous achievement for the group, who we named our Club of the Year at Colours Ball back in March.
Capping off a fantastic sporting year, Royal Holloway Fencing have been shortlisted for British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) Club of the Year. This is a tremendous achievement for the group, who we named our Club of the Year at Colours Ball back in March.
Last year, Royal Holloway Women's Football won the BUCS award, and we're hopeful that we can continue our strong history of sporting success on the national stage.
We're hoping to see a repeat of these celebrations from Colours Ball, when our fencers head to the BUCS Awards in July.
We caught up with Fencing President, Awen Saunders, and Women's captain, Cora Edwards, who shared with us their thoughts on what has been an incredible year for the club. The Women's team enjoyed a sensational year as they secured a league and cup double in South Eastern 2A and the South Eastern Conference Cup. The Men's teams meanwhile also put in some strong performances, with the 1st team finishing second to runaway winners, King's College 1st, in South Eastern 1A, while the 2nd team put together a fine South Eastern Conference Cup run that ended in the semi finals against Kent 1st.
A word from our fencers
"As a club, we are absolutely delighted to have been shortlisted for the BUCS Club of the Year Award. We would like to thank all of our committee members for their hard work and dedication throughout the year which not only helped us get shortlisted for this award, but also helped us to give back to the university and wider community as a whole. We are thrilled that all our efforts this year towards promoting diversity and inclusivity, as well as trying to promote fencing as a sport, have been recognised to such an extent that we have been shortlisted for this award. We would also like to thank all our members for the continuous support for our club and for helping to push the club to new heights."
A word from VP Sports, Steff Milne
"Over my two years as VP Sport, it has been amazing to see the growth, development and performance of our student sports clubs, and an absolute pleasure to work with so many talented individuals. Each year, we highlight some incredible groups and individuals at our Colours Ball, with our Fencing Club receiving the highest accolade - Club of the Year!
On the national stage, BUCS highlights groups and athletes across the nation to showcase success on a wider platform. We are delighted that Fencing have followed in the footsteps of our Women’s Football Club, who won BUCS Club of the Year in 2016/17 due to their countless charity work, volunteering and campaigning across campus. Having two groups shortlisted in a row highlights the amazing level of student sport we have here at Royal Holloway.
Fencing has gone from strength to strength in recent years, growing their female offering, organising tournaments with national governing bodies, developing a coaching pathway for their members, and offering more inclusive activity than ever before. The BUCS Awards Dinner 2018 is being held at UWE Bristol on Thursday 12 July and we want to wish a massive good luck to our amazing fencers - it has been a pleasure working with you and our fingers are crossed for you!"
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