Student Spotlight: Ben MacLennan

Student Spotlight: Ben MacLennan

Downing student Ben MacLennan (Natural Sciences 2023) has competed for the Great Britain Fencing team in the European Championships.

Ben began Fencing when he started secondary school. He has now been competing in the sport for almost eight years and has been competing in international tournaments for the last three.

The Championships consist of the top 4 athletes from each nation. Each athlete competes in the individual and team events, with the selection process based on the best domestic and international competition results from the preceding year.

Ben, who competes in the epee discipline of Fencing, was selected based on his performances in the previous year’s Bahrain World Cup, the Senior Welsh Open and the U23 National Championship.

In Bahrain, he came 22nd in the individual event and had positive indicators in the team event. He placed 6th at the Welsh Open and earned a bronze medal at the U23 Championships.

Reflecting on the Championships, Ben said: “The individual event wasn’t my best result, but I learned valuable lessons from it. In the team event, we fenced very well to narrowly lose to a German team that came 2nd, following which we won all of our playoff matches to come 9th out of 22 countries.

“This was my first major championship selection and bodes well for my final season as a Junior next year.”

Since arriving at Downing at the start of this year, Ben has had to balance Fencing with his studies. He has spent all but one weekend this year competing or on national training camps.

Alongside his national commitments, he has also been part of the University’s Fencing Club and anchored the epee team at events. He has enjoyed a successful year with the team, who were victorious in the BUCS Premier League South and came 3rd in the National Cup.

He said: “It’s been intense but its what I signed up for. I’ve had 3 internationals during term time, while also trying to fit in the 1A Natural Sciences course, which is notorious for the amount of content. But I’ve enjoyed my first year so far.”

In the next few months, more competitions await, including the Closed Senior Nationals (a tournament only open to the top 70 fencers in the GB rankings) at the end of April and the Open Senior Nationals in June. Though a big commitment, Ben believes it helps him to unwind from his academic work.

“I absolutely love Fencing. It forces you to take your mind off your studies. If you don’t have a clear mind, you can’t react quickly enough. You have to let your instincts take over.”