Silver Spades fencers gear up for global competition
- admin51097
- May 25
- 3 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
With Fieldays fast approaching, the NZ Fencing Competitions’ (NZFC) exchange program is once again set to offer an exciting overseas opportunity.
Winners of the 2026 Fieldays Silver Spades will travel to England in July to compete in the Tornado UK Fencing Competition, held in Malvern.
It’s a quick turnaround period, and heats entrants are encouraged to hold current passports.
As the Tornado UK Fencing Competition event is a biannual competition, we won’t see an automatic Fieldays Silver Spades UK finalist team until the 2027 Fieldays, at which time we also hope to see other team representatives from Ireland and Scotland.
The US Team representatives come from the US Platinum Strainer Doubles Championship, and with the East Coast Fencing Rivalry being held annually in August in Galax, Virginia, the 2026 Fieldays Fencing Competitions will see 2025 East Coast Fencing Rivalry winners Dylan Herndon and Ed Struana competing (Ed taking the spot of Deuce Brown, who is unfortunately not able to make it). Event organiser Derrick Cox goes to considerable lengths to ensure the US representative team for the Fieldays Silver Spades finals makes it to New Zealand shores to compete.
Ed Struana started fencing full-time in 2007 in the state of Ohio, having previously dairy farmed and fenced with his father. In 2023, Ed met 2 young men from Indiana, Rodney and Rodger Rhodes. In 2024, Rodger and Ed entered the East Coast Fencing Rivalry in Galax, Virginia, taking home a win in the machinery competition. This friendship and event has lead to a tremendous number of new friends and involvement in a new era of agricultural fence builders in the United States.
Jump ahead to February of 2025, when Ed received a call to join Deuce Brown as his partner in the Fieldays Silver Spades. Ed jumped at the opportunity, then boarded a plane to NZ. Ed’s start in New Zealand was wet, cold, and bumpy, but things soon warmed up.
“I was surrounded by a fence community that was warm, welcoming, and more than willing to share their knowledge.”
“The fencing competitions at Fieldays were just plain intimidating to me. ‘Can I do this?’ was running through my mind. The head judge says Go! All worries seem to leave me - just building a fence, like we do every day. I was pleased with what my partner (Luke Gibson, as Deuce was sick) and I accomplished in the finals.”
“As 2026 sets in, I once again can return to compete for the 2026 Fieldays Silver Spades. Foremost, I am eager to complete the heats events and better my time, technical, and strength test scores. This is also the ultimate goal for the finals. Afterwards, I plan to spend some time seeing more of New Zealand and spend some time with some of the best fence contractors in the world. At the end of the trip, I look forward to returning home as a better fence builder, having even more fence friends and acquaintances.”
2026 will be Dylan Herndon’s first time in New Zealand, but Dylan is no stranger to the recently acquired taste in the USA for handwork competitions. Dylan now organises his own fencing competition in February and is a regular competitor at the likes of the East Coast Fencing Rivalry. Dylan owns and operates Herndon Farm and Land Services in Georgia. A quick convert to using high quality materials and workmanship, Dylan has taken to competitions like a duck to water.
Comments Dylan, “My trip to New Zealand this year has been a long time coming. Having the chance to go over and compete in such a prestigious fencing competition, at such an event, is an honour. While there, I hope to meet many new people, catch up with friends I’ve made when they have come over to the States, and really take in any knowledge that is shared with me. I’m looking forward to learning, practicing and competing, honing my skills as much as I can.”
Written by: Debbie White
Published in WIRED issue 80/March 2026 by Fencing Contractors Association NZ
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© Fencing Contractors Association NZ (FCANZ)
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