Information for Competitors

Enjoy the fencing at your club, but would like to fence some other people? Thinking about taking part in competitions but worried that a national level competition might be a bit too strong for you?

The North West Junior Series is just the thing for you! A series of five competitions run throughout the year for fencers in particular age groups at all three weapons. Not only will there be medals for the top fencers at each tournament, but trophies at the end of the year for those who have been most successful in the whole series.

The Series

There are five competitions during the year, two in the school spring term, one in the summer term (after exams) and two in the autumn term. The competitions will be for all three weapons and will be advertised on this web site.

Age Groups

The series will be for fencers in the age groups

• Under-11 (with a lower limit of 9 years old)

• Under-14

However individual tournaments may include competitions for other age groups, for example under-9 or cadet (under-17).

Your age is calculated from the 1^st of January in the year the competition takes place. So in 2012 under-11 fencers will be born in 2001, 2002, 2003,and under-14 fencers in1998, 1999 or 2000.

Entry

You will be able to enter online on the North-West web site. You will need to be a member of one of the Home country fencing associations since you will need to provide your BFA, EFA, WFA or SFA membership number.

Equipment

Clothing

You will need a full set of regulation clothing, i.e. jacket, breeches (both 350 Newton, they should have a CEN 1 marking on them), plastron (350 or 800 Newton), mask, glove and knee length socks. Because the competitions are electric you will also need body wires. Girls must wear a chest protector.

Blades

Fencing will be electric throughout, the following are the maximum sized blades you should use

Blade Size
Age	Foil	Epée	Sabre
Under-11	3	2	2
Under-14	3	2	2

Format

The format will be one round of pools followed by direct eliminationfor all age groups.Timings for pools and DE areas follows

Pools
Age	Hits	Time Limit
Under-11	5	2 minutes
Under-14	5	3 minutes

Direct Elimination
Age	Hits	Time Limit	Rest After
Under-11	10	6 minutes	2 minutes
Under-14	15	9 minutes	3 minutes

Points

Points will be awarded to everyone who competes. They will be calculated as

Points = Number of Entries Multiplier

The multiplier is given in the table below

Final Rankings

The points you score at each competition will be added together and rankings will be given on the North-West web site. At the end of the year final rankings will be published and prizes awarded.