En-Garde Fencing hosts tournament at West Edmonton Mall

By Dale Boyd

EDMONTON — The En-Garde Fencing club hosted the Hodkinson open at West Edmonton Mall Saturday, March 5.

The round robin style tournament included fencers of all ages invited from fencing clubs from Red Deer, Edmonton and Calgary as well as anyone else in the area who wanted to participate.

En-Garde president Mark Bevan wants the exhibition tournament to promote the sport of fencing as a unique way for people to be physically active.

Bevan feels the exhibition tournament is also a good platform for young fencers to get used to fencing in the tournament scenario.

“A lot of the kids, especially the younger kids, aren’t ready for a big competition yet and so this is great for them to get to fence with people at their level and get a feeling of what that’s like,” said Bevan.

Fencers competed to get their name engraved on the Hodkinson Cup. The tournament was named after the founder of En-Garde Fencing, Rodger Hodkinson.

“In recognition for the work that he’s done to start this club and keep it going we decided to name the cup after him,” said Bevan.

En-Garde Fencing is located at 10023 168 Street Northwest, Edmonton.