After a nine-year break from competitive fencing, NSW Health Pathology’s Reagan Clarke has achieved a goal years in the making: representing Australia at the Commonwealth Fencing Championships in Lagos, Nigeria.

Com­pet­ing against some of the world’s best fencers, Rea­gan fin­ished 19th in Men’s Indi­vid­ual Epee, 22nd in Men’s Indi­vid­ual Foil, eighth in Men’s Team Epee and sixth in Men’s Team Foil. 

 While the results fell short of the high stan­dards he sets for him­self, Rea­gan says the expe­ri­ence was a suc­cess.  

“I did­n’t medal, which was dis­ap­point­ing, but over­all I fenced well and beat some very strong com­peti­tors,” he said. 

One of his clos­est con­tests came in the Men’s Indi­vid­ual Epee, where he nar­row­ly lost 15–14 to a high­ly ranked Welsh oppo­nent.  

Despite the com­pet­i­tive inten­si­ty, it was the cama­raderie on and off the piste that stood out most. 

“As we did­n’t have a coach or team man­ag­er with us, every­one stepped up and sup­port­ed each oth­er,” he said. “The team spir­it was incred­i­ble, and the inter­na­tion­al fenc­ing com­mu­ni­ty was very wel­com­ing.” 

For Rea­gan, sim­ply reach­ing the Com­mon­wealth Cham­pi­onships was an achieve­ment in itself. 

“This event was the cul­mi­na­tion of decades of hard work, train­ing and sac­ri­fice,” he said. “It means a lot to be able to call myself a Com­mon­wealth ath­lete.” 

Rep­re­sent­ing Aus­tralia also car­ries a dif­fer­ent mean­ing now than it did ear­li­er in his career. 

“When I was younger, selec­tion felt almost expect­ed because I was train­ing and com­pet­ing at such a high lev­el. These days, bal­anc­ing work, train­ing and life means every oppor­tu­ni­ty means so much more.” 

The expe­ri­ence also taught him that his com­pet­i­tive dri­ve remains as strong as ever. 

“I learnt that the fire in me that strives for good results still burns, just in a slight­ly dif­fer­ent way. I’m proud to say that I gave it my all.” 

Back in Aus­tralia, Rea­gan is tak­ing some time to recov­er and con­sid­er his next steps, which could include coach­ing, ath­lete man­age­ment or com­pet­ing in future Mas­ters and Vet­er­ans events. 

Reflect­ing on his achieve­ment, Rea­gan says the sup­port of fam­i­ly, team­mates and col­leagues played an impor­tant role in help­ing him achieve his goal. 

 “Get­ting to the Com­mon­wealth Cham­pi­onships took a lot of hard work, but it also would­n’t have been pos­si­ble with­out the encour­age­ment of the peo­ple around me,” he said. “I’m grate­ful for the sup­port I’ve received from my fam­i­ly, my team­mates and my col­leagues at NSW Health Pathol­o­gy through­out the jour­ney.” 

 His advice for any­one con­sid­er­ing return­ing to a pas­sion they’ve put aside is sim­ple. 

“Do it. Look­ing at some­thing you love with a fresh per­spec­tive can be incred­i­bly reward­ing.” 

 For Rea­gan, return­ing to fenc­ing after so many years was about more than the final results. It was a chance to test him­self again, recon­nect with a sport he loves and rep­re­sent Aus­tralia on the inter­na­tion­al stage. 

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