Introduction
Yorkshire Fencing run a series of events aimed at helping younger fencers progress and develop in their skills. These events are run throughout the year at different locations in Yorkshire to enable as many young people to be included in the sport.
Yorkshire Competitions
The Northern Challenge
Originally set up as the Yorkshire Youth League in order to give young fencers in Yorkshire a local opportunity to participate in competitive fencing. Now called The Northern Youth Challenge, the competition is open to all young fencers in U10,U12,U14 and U16 age groups, particularly those taking part in their first competitions. The expansion of the competition to include fencers from outside the region has also been recognised with ranking points available for U14 England Fencing rankings.
Yorkshire Youth Championships
The Yorkshire Youth Championships is held once a year and is used as the regional qualifier for the British Youth Championships. The competition is split into a number of events outlined in the table below:-
| Weapon | Under 12 | Under 14 | Under 16 | Under 18 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foil | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| Epee | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| Sabre | Y | Y | Y | Y |
British Youth Championships
The top eight fencers in each of the events will qualify for the national finals which are usually held on the May Bank holiday weekend in Sheffield. In the event that there are more than 16 fencers in an event then the top eight plus one fencer for every four fencers will qualify for the nationals.
Yorkshire Region aims to run the qualifying event in March as all the information about the qualifiers needs to be submitted to British Fencing by the 31st of March.