Duncan's Company of the Blue Dragon were fierce, and on fire at the International Medieval Combat Federation (IMCF) Team Canada qualifiers which were held in Calgary on March 15 and 16.
This year's world championships will be held in Houston, Texas from Aug. 7 to 10.
It was Jose Amoedo who brought Buhurt, the modern full-contact fighting sport with blunt steel weapons, from Spain to Canada, forming Medieval Combat Canada in 2014. Three year's later, Cowichan's Lucas Mendes, who had been following the sport since it started in Canada, decided to spread his wings to start up Company of the Blue Dragon in 2017 and it was in 2023 that he won the first bronze medal for Team Canada for the world championships that were held in Spain that year.
Out of the 13 members who got medieval in Mexico in last year's tournament, Nanaimo's Kelly Dahl brought home a bronze for his win in the Heavyweight Pro-Fight, while Samantha Joulie, who lives outside of Chemainus, brought home silver for the female 5v5 Melee.
Joulie was one of the eight of nine knights from the Company of the Blue Dragon who competed for a spot on team Canada this year and was undefeated in women's Longsword, taking gold.
"The tournament was great, it was a tough competition full of amazing fighters from all across the country," said Mendes.
Mendes, who was voted team captain for the third year running, was undefeated in male Sword & Shield taking gold. Also hitting the gold standard was Kat Halls who was undefeated in the women's Sword & Buckler.
Representing Canada in male Longsword, and Lightweight Pro-fights will be Braeden Castles, Blake Johansen will be representing for the male Light Heavyweight Pro-fights, and for the male Titan Weight Pro-fights representing Canada will be Brody Vizza.
"Our melee team is comprised of myself, Blake Johansen, Brody Vizza, James Davidson, Lance Gadsby, and two mercenaries from Alberta Mike Diaz and Patrick Depaulo who swept the melee category with a minimum three to one advantage in every round," said Mendes.
Mendes said the team trains every Saturday in Duncan starting with an intensive cardio circuit, which then leads into weapons techniques and grappling.
"We then suit up and do armoured fighting for the remaining three to four hours," said Mendes.
Company of the Blue Dragon fighters not only put in a lot of time to compete in the world championships, but also a pretty penny as it costs each fighter $3,000 to take the trip and compete. Later this month they will be hosting a medieval event in Sointula (Malcolm Island) as a fundraiser on April 19 to help get the Blue Dragon fighters to the World Championships in Texas.
"It's quite an expensive ordeal so every bit of funding we can get is a huge help," said Mendes.
In the meantime members will not be dragging their feet, as they will be keeping busy with demos and events all over the Island. They will be at Sidney's Faerie & Fantasy Faire on April 12, a date will soon be announced for their Medieval Knights event's at North Cowichan's Raptors Centre, and will be hosting their yearly tournament at the Cowichan Exhibition Grounds on Sept. 13 and 14 after their fate at the world championships has been decided.
"As team captain I'm really looking forward to helping everyone achieve their goals and making this the best year Canada's ever had," said Mendes. "We've got a phenomenal team this year, and I've got high hopes for everyone."
