Lara defends world title
THE Irish medieval combat team travelled to Scone Palace in Scotland for the IMCF World Championships from May 9 to 13, with Lara Serviolle travelling to defend her women’s longsword world title.
Lara, who is one of the two main instructors of the Mayo branch of Medieval Armoured Combat Ireland, took her world title in style at the 2017 edition of the event, and she was determined to retain it.
Her elimination pool held some tough competition against fighters from Australia, Sweden and America, but she came through without a loss. These early victories were to prove vital later in the competition as Sweden finished second in the pool and so also moved forward to the quarterfinal stages, coming up the opposite side of the draw to Lara.
In the quarterfinals, Lara faced off against the Canadian fighter, but she was getting into her stride and took victory to move her forward to the semi-finals against South Africa.
The South African fighter was a tough opponent, but Lara’s control of the distance and excellent counter timing saw her take the win and move through to the finals.
The Swedish fighter had also made her way through the quarter- and semi-finals and now in the finals, Lara found herself facing off against her again. For the Swede, it was all in, with nothing to lose, while for Lara there was the potential for the pressure of losing her world title becoming too much. However, with the poise of a true champion she held her nerve, focused on striking fast, accurate shots, and took the victory in two rounds to retain her title.
Despite some great efforts from the rest of the team, unfortunately it was not to be, with fellow Mayo branch member Lorraine O’Malley going out in the pool stages of the women’s sword and shield division to the eventual bronze and gold medal winners.
After some epic encounters, Athenry’s Ethan Ruane and Waterford’s Anthony Power lost out in the men’s longsword and sword and shield divisions respectively while the men’s 5 v 5 team, competing for the first time in a team event, lost out in the elimination pools.
As a relatively new team, Ireland did themselves proud, with Lara’s gold being a major success for the group.
Preparations now begin for the 2019 championships in Kiev, the Ukraine.
Medieval Armoured Combat Ireland is always open for new members to try out this emerging sport. Classes are open to anyone over 18 years of age, and if anyone wishes to find out more, or simply to follow the progress of the team, they can visit the website, www.armouredcombat.ie or the Facebook page, www.facebook.com/Irishcombat/.