For the first time ever, the South Island has won a teen fencing title – and not in the sword sport.

Geraldine High School students Thomas Batty and Cullen Bolt placed first in the Silver Staples fencing competition, held at the Mystery Creek Fieldays.

They participated through the school’s Primary Industry Academy, who’s been working towards a win for years, head of department Sarah Foley-Smith said.

“I hoped we would be in the top three,” she said.

“We’re actually the first South Island team in the history of fencing across any grade to win a national title. So it’s a big deal.”

The boys were one of six teams, two from Geraldine, gunning for gold.

“We were up against Smedley Station and Pukemiro Station, the two big cadet training farms in the North Island,” Foley-Smith said.

The other Geraldine pair, Isabelle Atkinson and Cayden Howell, took out fifth overall.

The teams had spent their last six months building fences on the school field, Batty said.

“Every week, twice a week, we were building a fence afterschool.

“We were finishing in the dark most nights.”

At the event, it was about balancing speed and fence quality.

“The judges checked everything; heights, levels, spacing, wirework, safety points and that,” Bolt said.

“It was nerve wracking at the end, after we’d finished it, just seeing who had the tidiest fence.”

Points are gained for faults in the fencework, so the aim was to get the lowest score possible, Batty said.

“It could be [that] a 5 millimetre difference in height could get you a point.”

The pair scored around 60 points and took home the trophy.

“We’d done plenty of training, but we hadn’t expected that,” Batty said.

“We were pretty knackered, we put pretty much everything we had into it.”

The crew won some tools and bragging rights for their Geraldine schoolmates.

After a well-earned rest, it’ll be time for the fencers to pass their knowledge on to next year's competitors.

“It’s six months worth of training,” Foley-Smith said.

“They’ve got to be at school… so we have to grab slots where we can.”

But for now, the competitors and their school will reap their rewards and celebrate their win.

By Anisha Satya