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Photo by Dustin Cook

FULL SWING – Land and Lake Pearson battle in a longsword duel during a Company of the White Wolf practice Monday evening in preparation for world competitions.

Fighting Yukoners prepare for world battles

Yukon fighters will be suiting up in their armour on the international stage – making up a large chunk of Team Canada at two world medieval combat events.

By Dustin Cook on April 17, 2018

Yukon fighters will be suiting up in their armour on the international stage – making up a large chunk of Team Canada at two world medieval combat events.

The Company of the White Wolf will be sending about 10 athletes as part of the Canadian team to compete in the Battle of the Nations in Rome as well as the International Medieval Combat Federation World Championships in Scotland.

The larger event in Rome hosted by Historical Medieval Battles will feature 700 fighters from 32 countries running May 3-6. The fighters won’t have a lot of time in between competitions with 500 athletes competing in Scotland May 10-13.

At the White Wolf gym Monday evening, team members were on hand to get suited up in their armour – weighing more than 70 pounds – in order to ensure they met the championship requirements.

Brothers Lake and Land Pearson have been involved with the organization since the beginning about three years ago.

Lake will be competing in Rome – if he gets his passport in time – and previously competed for Canada in the longsword duel competition.

Land will be fighting both in Rome and Scotland for the Canadian squad. At the world championships in Scotland, Land said of the 10 Canadian team members, seven will be from the Yukon along with two fighters from Alberta and one from Ontario. He explained that Quebec has a large contingent of fighters, but in Scotland they have representation as their own team.

White Wolf fighter Aurora Bicudo will be the lone woman competing for Canada in Scotland and will be competing in the sword and shield and longsword duel competitions.

Bicudo said she started training just over a year ago after seeing the group at Yukomicon and Burning Away the Winter Blues.

“I started dropping in and kind of been hooked ever since,” she said at the team’s practice.

The main learning curve for Bicudo was how much strategy and technique is involved.

“Having to strategically think about yor openings and your stance and all those different body kinetic things that help you to advance your skill that I just never really put together,” she said.

The first time competing on the world stage, Bicudo said she will be competing against female competitors for the first time as in the territory she trains with her male teammates.

“I’m really keen to see what kind of talent is out there and what I can learn and bring back,” she said.

The Canadian team will be competing in individual competitions known as duals where one athlete per country will face off in duals with either the longsword, sword and shield or pole arm. Lake said these competitions are scored by marshals based on how many strikes the fighters have landed cleanly on their opponents.

The other competition will be a team-based melee event where several members will fight as a team with the goal of knocking their opponents to the ground and being the last team standing.

The founder of the club, Jose Martinez Amoedo will also be competing at the world competitions, but not alongside his fellow Yukoners.

Amoedo, who lives in Mayo, will be competing with Team Spain.

With their leader not in Whitehorse, Lake said the other veterans who have been around since the beginning often take shifts coaching and lead practices depending on their expertise.

Steven Pearson will be competing in the longsword duel in Scotland and he said he goes to Mayo to train with Amoedo as much as possible and brings his learnings back to the team.

A right-leg amputee, Steven said for him the most difficult part of the sport is maintaining balance while fighting in the full suit of armour.

“It’s a very physical sport. Being healthy definitely helps to become a balanced fighter,” he said.

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