The England Seniors travelled to Langebaan, South Africa to take part in the FIPS-M 36th World Seniors Shore Championship from 8th – 15th February 2019, part of the Sport Fishing World Games.
This year’s England team consisted of;
Saul Page
Richard Yates
Darren Newland
Ian Dancey
Bill Lindfield
Gareth Griffiths
Malcolm Stote (Manager)
This was always going to be a very competitive event for Team England in the match calendar with 18 nations competing.
England’s practice week was going well with the team catching plenty of fish, so this put them in a positive mind set and they were ready for the task in front of them.
On day one England finished in third place which was a brilliant start, but over the next two day’s they slipped down the leaderboard into eighth place. The team worked tirelessly having had a reasonable last day and managed to pull it back to finish in a well-deserved sixth place overall. Spain took that all important first place, Ireland in second and South Africa in third.
Top 4 team results;
1st Spain
2nd Ireland
3rd South Africa
4th Italy
Top 3 individual results;
1st Juan Daniel Oliva, Spain
2n Oscar Manuel Flores, Spain
3rd Sandro Guerreiro, Portugal
Malcolm Stote, England Seniors Shore Manager said “We were really looking forward to this event as big on the match calendar for all World Championship teams. To meet other teams from the other disciplines of angling was a real honour and a pleasure as our paths never normally cross.”
“To finish in sixth place overall was not what we had dreamt of, but it was a creditable effort none the less. Well done to the Senior Team as it was a good effort and hard fought in some tough areas and conditions. Congratulations to the pairing of Stuart Withyman and James Madsen on their bronze medal win in the England Pairs Shore team. I would also like to thank everyone who has supported us as it was a tough two weeks.”
The England team would like to thank the South African Federation for organising a successful championship and the team look forward to taking part in next year’s World Championship in Mimizan, France.
