Medieval team take state wins

MEMBERS of Ballarat’s premier medieval combat team can add a few more trophies to the shelf following the Australian Medieval Combat Federation’s nationals tournament held over the weekend.

After competing in New South Wales from Saturday until Monday, the local Western Wolves team walked away from the event with seven accolades.

Team captain and head coach at Ballarat Medieval Combat gym Dan Cooper said the event saw some exciting developments for the group.

“We had two joint teams with Adelaide,” he said. “They’ve got a team called Warhounds Armoured Combat.

“We debuted our two joint teams. Our men’s team is the Warwolves and our women’s team is the Cassowaries, both made up of Wolves and Warhounds.

“It was pretty amazing. The women really outdid themselves. It was satisfying for me because it’s two teams of people I’ve been training for the past two years. It’s amazing to see the hard work coming together.”

About 15 members between both teams took part in the event, with seven from Ballarat.

The first day saw six fights of Buhurt, which involves bringing opponents to the ground in a last man standing brawl.

The following days featured duelling and outrance tournaments, for which the Western Wolves received top places in the men’s lightweight, middleweight, and super heavyweight, and women’s lightweight titles.

The Wolves’ Molly Fry was declared champion in the women’s lightweight, and sword and buckler tournaments, while the joint Cassowaries team won the gold in the women’s buhurt competition on Saturday.

Following on from their nationals participation, Cooper said the Western Wolves will continue to compete with their sister team.

“We’ll be taking the Warwolves to America in February for Carolina Carnage which is the biggest tournament in the U.S. with 30 teams. It’ll be the first time the Ballarat team has competed there,” he said.

“The Cassowaries are looking to fight in one of the biggest tournaments in Germany for the Eisenliga Cup, or Way of Honor.

“Later in the year there’s also the Trans-Tasman Cup in New Zealand who we beat last year.

“We’ve established this really supportive and welcoming culture that makes this, even socially, an absolute joy. This is only the start.”