McKenzie wins Melbourne HEMA Open rapier title
Travis McKenzie won Melbourne HEMA Open’s 35-fencer single-rapier field, beating Edward Craig in a format built on precision, pacing and distance. Scholar Victoria also placed two more fighters in the top six.
Travis McKenzie took the Melbourne HEMA Open 2026 rapier title after winning the 35-fighter Rapier (Single) - Open Steel division, edging Edward Craig of Melbourne Fencing Society in the final. Liam Schofield of The School of Historical Fencing finished third, with Habibi Favilla of MSS in fourth.
The result came in a three-day public holiday tournament in Melbourne, Victoria, on June 6, 2026, with each day devoted to a single weapon and every fencer guaranteed a minimum of eight matches. Alongside rapier, the event also ran open Longsword and Sidesword divisions, plus URG and Masters categories, giving the rapier field a clean, specialist stage rather than a mixed card.
That matters in a weapon like single rapier, where small edges in tempo, measure and decision-making decide more than brute volume of touches. A 35-entry bracket is large enough to separate the best from the rest, but compact enough for the final standings to tell a clear story about which clubs are producing repeatable rapier results.
Scholar Victoria left Melbourne with the top prize and extra depth behind it. McKenzie won the division, while Jack Jones placed fifth and Hunter Wild sixth, a showing that points to a training group with more than one serious rapier competitor. Melbourne Fencing Society answered with Craig’s runner-up finish, and The School of Historical Fencing matched that level of presence through Schofield’s third-place run and Valerie Bright’s ninth-place finish.
The rest of the top end widened the club spread further. Alessandro Contu of Scherma Storica VTAA took seventh and Dennis Gubb of Fitzroy College of Arms finished eighth, confirming that the podium and the places just below it were not locked up by one dominant room. HEMA Scorecard handled the event’s results, and HEMA Ratings records the Melbourne HEMA Open 2026 under the June 6 date in Melbourne.
Craig’s run also fits the current season’s wider rapier picture. HEMA Ratings’ July 2026 single-rapier table lists him under Melbourne Historical Fencing with a weighted rating of 1936.8 and a confidence of 35.7, marking him as one of the field’s established names even in a bracket that still opened the door for McKenzie to claim the title.
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