Ladder Nights

Ladder Nights are our more competitive evenings, held once a month. These take place in Foil on the 1st Thursday of every month for Senior Fencers (aged 14+) and the 2nd Thursday for Juniors (aged 7-14). Whilst more competitive, Ladder Nights are always a lot of fun and a favourite for many of our members. Additionally, they’re a great way to test your skills and see how much you’ve progressed during the year. At various points throughout the year we also hold a Sabre Ladder, known as the Sabre Cup.

How the Ladders work?

On Ladder Nights, fencers take part in a poule – a small group of fencers who through the evening will fence against each other. All bouts (matches) are played to 5 hits, with the winner being either the fencer who scores 5 hits first or whoever has the highest score after 3 minutes of fencing have passed. If the scores are tied, then a “priority minute” is played, where fencers have 1 final minute to score an addition hit.

How are points awarded / how do the rankings work?

The Foil ladders record the following: the number of matches you take part in, the number of matches you win and the number of times you hit your opponents (Hits Scored).

Fencers are then ranked as follows. Firstly by the number of matches you’ve won and secondly by the percentage of matches you win. This way the top fencer is the one who both performs the best and participates in the ladder throughout the year. If fencers are tied, we then separate by the number of hits scored. On the rare occasion fencers tie in all aspects, the algorithms separate them alphabetically. Sorry to whoever has the later name.

Senior Ladder

Senior Ladder Nights (Foil) take place on the 1st Thursday of every month.

The reigning champion is Evangeline Lawrence.

Junior Ladder

Junior Ladder Nights (Foil) take place on the 2nd Thursday of every month.

Congratulations to Freddy who’s our reigning champion for the past 2 years!

Sabre Cup

The Sabre Cup currently consists of 3 rounds, held at intervals throughout the year.

Rounds 1, 2 & 3 all contain a poule stage, with Round 2 also leading into a Direct Elimination style tournament.

Fencers are awarded 1 point for every poule match they take part in, with a bonus 2 points being awarded if they win the match. (This is the same scoring system that GB League events use). In the Direct Elimination stage, fencers earn more points the longer they remain in the competition.

Congratulations to Dan Cable who’s our current Sabre Cup Champion!