Drennan Team England have returned to home soil with team Silver after claiming a superb second place and so it turned out all podium positions went to the favourites Belgium, France and England.
Belgium hosted the 64th FIPS-ed Coarse Angling World Championships for Nations over 9th – 10th September on the Charleroi-Bruxelles Canal, Ronquieres with 38 nations competing.
Drennan Team England were led by a strong management team consisting of Mark Downes, Steve Sanders and Darran Bickerton and the all important team was; Alan Scotthorne, Will Raison, Des Shipp, Sean Ashby, Steve Hemingray and Callum Dicks.
Day one saw Drennan Team England having a great day fishing two lines at 11 metres, which was on the “Bricked Slope” and the 13 metre line which was past the slope and on to the natural bed of the canal.
Opting for a leam (Terre de Somme Black) and Joker on both lines which turned out to be great for the bream, but not so good for the roach. With three section wins for Will, Steve and Alan who all had bream plus a smattering of roach, while Sean and Des both finished fourth struggling for roach. All in all a great team performance in their respective 19 peg sub sections.
Usually 11 points would lead proceedings on day one but with Belgium on 8 and France on 16.5 (which included an 10.5), it quickly developed into a three horse race.
Going into day two England’s management knew they had to score low with Mark Downes suggesting 8 points because Belgians in his opinion were never going to score more than 12, they knew the venue too well and had 3 local experts in the team.
After changing tactics sticking with joker and leam at 13 metres but reverting back to their successful earlier groundbait mix at 11 metres (Sensas Canal Fine Noire, grilled hempseed, coriander and some local pigeon droppings) an essential ingredient used widely in Belgium, the team had another great result. Sean winning in the bream section, Des winning with a great bag of roach, Will second and unable to beat his Belgian opposition who had drawn at the favoured end of his section, just one peg from the end of the match length. Steve also managed another second in his section just to be beaten only by his Belgian counterpart.
Mark Downes, Drennan Team England Manager stated “As the results came in we were very close. We were a couple of points ahead of Belgium with only Alan to come back. Alan had drawn next to his Belgian opposition with rumours going around that Alan had the edge, but it was not to be with the Belgian competitor going on to win the title by a three point margin by only 200 grms!
France won the day with 8 points with a solid performance and having avoided the Belgians in 4 of the 5 half sections and us in 3 of the 5.
So Silver for England, A great result that catapults us back to the top of the International Rankings as “England World No 1s.”
Belgium went on to win the World Championships with 18 points (59.812kg), Drennan Team England second with 21 points (53.393kg), followed by France with 24.5 points (53.031kg).
Individually it was Luc Thijs from Belgium taking the Gold medal with 2 points 17.011 g. In second place Stephane Linder, France finished on 2 points weighing in 12.181g and third place went to Geoffrey Duquesne, Belgium with 2 points and 11.577 g.
Top 5 Team results;
1st Belgium – 18 pts (59.812 kg)
2nd Drennan Team England – 21 pts (53.393 kg)
3rd France – 24.5 pts (53.031 kg)
4th Switzerland – 49 pts (33.245 kg)
5th Poland – 51 pts (30.273 kg)
Top 5 Individual Results;
1st Luc Thijs, Belgium 2 pts 17.011 kg
2nd Stephane Linder, France 2 pts 12.181 kg
3rd Geoffrey Duquesne, Belgium 2 pts 11.577 kg
4th Aaron Ferretti, Switzerland 2 pts 11.081 kg
5th Will Raison, England 3 pts 15.652 kg
Drennan Team England Placings;
5th Will Raison 3 pts 15.652 kg
9th Steve Hemingray 3 pts 8.775 kg
11th Sean Ashby 5 pts 11.867 kg
12th Alan Scotthorne 5 pts 10.733 kg
18th Des Shipp 5 pts 6.366 kg
The Angling Trust and Drennan Team England would like to offer their appreciation to their sponsors Drennan and Peter Drennan and to Sensas for all their continued support.
