On Sunday 6th December the fencing team from Tettenhall College competed in their first Pentathlon Competition Gala.
Modern Pentathlon is an Olympic Sport comprised of the five disciplines of fencing, shooting, running, swimming and horse-riding. The choice of the five sports arose out of the romantic and tough adventures of a young liaison officer whose horse was wounded within enemy territory.
Having only his pistol and sword to defend himself, he is forced to fight off aggressors and swim a raging river before successfully delivering his message on foot. Modern Pentathlon is now an exciting sport for boys and girls of all ages. For the last two years Tettenhall Fencing Coach Raph Aldis has been one of the West Midlands Pentathlon Development Coaches.
Sunday’s competition was attended by Madison Jones (U16) pictured above, William Fletcher-Taylor (U14), Ben Lloyd (U12), Holly Graham (12), Max Ward (U12) and David Naylor (U12). The day focused on three of the five events; fencing, shooting and running. During the morning all the athletes were given the chance to learn or practice the three disciplines, so those who had never fired a pentathlon pistol received training from Jim Quinlan Master of Firearms and those who had never fenced were trained by Raph Aldis – Sword Master. The afternoon allowed the athletes to put their new skills into practice in a shoot – run – fence competition.
The competition began with a static shoot; where the athletes had to fire ten shots into a target at 10-metres distance. Following this was the fencing event where all the athletes within their age groups fought against each other in one-minute bouts. The competition ended with
combined run/shoot; where the athletes had to fire a further ten-shots then immediately head off to complete a 400-metre sprint to a finish line. At the end of the competition all the points were collated for results.
Results:
Overall Competition (Results from shoot, fence and run)
U16:
- 2nd Place (Silver Medal): Madison Jones
- Best Fencer: Madison Jones
U14:
- 3rd Place (Bronze Medal): William Fletcher-Taylor
U12:
- 2nd Place (Silver Medal): David Naylor
- 3rd Place (Bronze Medal): Max Ward
- 5th Place: Holly Graham
- 6th Place: Ben Lloyd
- Best Fencer: David Naylor
Well done and congratulations to all those who participated. This was a fun competition to end the year on and all the athletes worked hard and were a credit to the school.
Categories: Sports
