Neil and Rachael McLeod recently returned with the BritishEskrimaTeam from the European Stick Fighting Championship held in Terracina, Italy. The event was held over 4 days starting Thursday 14th June until Sunday 17th June 2007. The team consisted of 24 of the very best British Stick Fighters with 3 World Champions fighting and numerous British and European Champions. The whole team did exceptionally well winning 15 Gold medals, 10 Silver medals and 12 Bronze medals! The British team were crowned the Champions of Europe.
Both Rachael and Neil returned Champions! Rachael won the Goldin the Ladies Double Stick under 60kg (winning in less than 1 minute by disarming her opponent!) and Neil won Gold in both the Single and Double Stick under 65kg! It has been reported in National magazines that Neil was "the star of the weekend, showing some exceptional Stick Fighting". During Neil's Double Stick final against Italy's Adriano Andre Colazingari, the other ongoing fights were stopped so that the Italian team could watch the fight.
Neil and Rachael are now both preparing for the World Championships to be held in July 2008 in the Philippines.
Couple Tame Lil' Dragons
The contribution made by the McLeod Academy for the youth of Aylesbury has not gone unnoticed. The Bucks Herald Web Site includes a glowing article and video about the Lil' Dragons class provided by Neil and Rachael McLeod at the McLeod Academy of Martial Arts.
The article has been published on 17 May 2007
Click here to view the complete article and view the video