The Grand Union Canal at Milton Keynes staged the NFA National Championships for Cadets, Juniors and Intermediates supported by PENTAX U.K, where almost 300 young anglers aged between 10 and 20 years of age competed to win the national crown.
The competitors had considerably more agreeable conditions than some of the angling matches in recent weeks with bright sunshine and light winds gracing the canal. With the pleasant conditions an enjoyable match was had by all, with all competitors and travelling coaches and parents having a great day out.
The Cadet Championship was fished along the Bradville stretch of the Grand Union Canal where Smartbait Leeds Black took the team victory with 36 points and a combined weight of 5.620kg. The team were placed within the top two of five out of the six sections with section wins for both Jake Dowd and Jake Dye. In second place in the team classification was Boston & District A.A with 31 points and a weight of 5.580kg. Boston did exceptionally well on the day winning three sections in total. In third place was Pride of Derby Juniors (29 points and 4.500kg weight) with won one section win for Adam Logan.
Individually, it was Boston & District and the two Smartbait Leeds teams whose members competed for the title with Boston angler Jake Gallagher coming out on top with a weight of 1.520kg. Jake commented, “I really enjoyed the day and managed to catch skimmers, roach and perch”. In second place was Jake Dye from Smartbait Leeds Black with 1.450kg and in third place was Smartbait Leeds Blue angler Jack Walker with 1.370kg.
The Junior Championship team win went to Tameside Fox Match, who had 120 points and weight of 14.630kg. The junior competition was very close with Tameside winning by only one point over Mosella Farnborough & District with 119 points and 13.490kg. In third was Barnsley & District Red with 111 points and a weight 10.750kg.
Individually, Joe Whitley from Wakefield AC claimed top spot with a superb catch of three tench, bream and some smaller skimmers making up a final weight of 6.210kg. Second place went to an angler on the same section from Tameside Fox Match, Tom Woodruff who caught continually throughout the match to finish with 5.500kg. In third was L Hancock from Peatmoor AC with a weight of 3.990kg also from the same section, proving section A to be the strongest in the match.
The Intermediate match was fished from Manor Fields to Willowbridge on the Grand Union with Mosella Farnborough & District Gold winning the championship with 93 points and a weight of 17.690kg, seven points ahead of Mosella Farnborough & District Blue who ended with 86 points and a weight of 15.820kg. The Gold team from Farnborough had two section wins from Myles Levy (1.980kg) and Anthony Flint (4.970kg). In third place was Peatmoor AC Blue whose highest section placing was second by D Freeman who finished fourth overall in the individual contest.
The winner of the individual Intermediate National Championship was Dale Shepherd who continued the Leeds based Smartbaits teams success on the day claiming victory with 9.850kg in his net. Dale fished pellet and double red on the top catching a continual supply of skimmers taking him way ahead of nearest rival second placed Harry Marsh. Harry fished for Mosella Farnborough and District Blue and ended with a final weigh in of 5.450kg. In third was another Mosella angler, this time from the Gold team, Anthony Flint.
Every winner on the day commented on how much they had enjoyed and as one steward stated, “It was great to see so many young anglers out there enjoying fishing and everyone had a smile on their face.”
CADET TEAM POSTION
POS TEAM A B C D E F TOTAL (PTS) A B C D E F WEIGHT (Kg)
1st SMARTBAIT LEEDS BLACK 7 6 6 7 6 4 36 940 760 1120 1450 800 550 5.62
2nd BOSTON & DISTRICT AA 2 7 7 4 4 7 31 100 1240 1160 980 580 1520 5.58
3rd PRIDE OF DERBY JUNIORS 5 4 5 5 7 3 29 520 540 930 1100 1120 290 4.50
4th WORKSOP & DIS DTH CADETS 3 3 3 6 5 5 25 180 100 370 1270 650 1150 3.72
5th SMARTBAIT LEEDS BLUE 4 0 4 0 3 6 17 380 0 640 0 550 1370 2.94
6th WAKEFIELD AC 6 5 0 0 2 0 13 550 710 0 0 180 0 1.44
7th SHIREBROOK AC 1 2 2 3 0 2 10 10 50 110 740 0 60 0.97
INDIVIDUALS
POS PEG NAME TEAM WEIGHT WEIGHT (Kg)
1 F 4 Jake Gallagher BOSTON & DISTRICT AA 1520 1.52
2 D 7 Jake Dye SMARTBAIT LEEDS BLACK 1450 1.45
3 F 6 Jack Walker SMARTBAIT LEEDS BLUE 1370 1.37
4 D 6 Joel Potts WORKSOP & DIS DTH CADETS 1270 1.27
5 B 5 Bradley Proctor BOSTON & DISTRICT AA 1240 1.24
6 C 3 David Ewing BOSTON & DISTRICT AA 1160 1.16
7 F 7 Ben Frost WORKSOP & DIS DTH CADETS 1150 1.15
8 C 2 Oliver Stringer SMARTBAIT LEEDS BLACK 1120 1.12
9 E 5 Adam Logan PRIDE OF DERBY JUNIORS 1120 1.12
10 D 1 Liam Harrison PRIDE OF DERBY JUNIORS 1100 1.10
JUNIOR TOP 10 TEAM POSITIONS
POS TEAM A B C D E F TOTAL (PTS) A B C D E F WEIGHT (Kg)
1st Tameside Fox Match 22 22 18 16 22 20 120 5500 2000 1400 1780 1800 2150 14.63
2nd Mosella Farnborough & Di 12 17 23 21 23 23 119 1130 1350 2940 2930 2010 3130 13.49
3rd Barnsley & Dist Red 17 21 21 13 17 22 111 1780 1870 2120 1340 1220 2420 10.75
4th Warrington AA Red 18 11 20 23 18 15 105 2500 840 1960 3210 1580 1560 11.65
5th Pride of Derby Junior An 14 19 17 19 21 13 103 1530 1410 1220 2710 1760 1490 10.12
6th Smartbait Leeds 20 23 14 11 11 10 89 3240 3830 960 1100 660 560 10.35
7th Warrington AA Blue 16 20 8 17 10 7 78 1650 1550 320 1990 600 250 6.36
8th Tameside Fox Match Youth 9 19 15 7 5 22 77 760 1410 990 620 210 2420 6.41
9th Barnsley & Dist White 19 6 7 18 9 16 75 2600 400 230 2050 500 1660 7.44
10th Worksop & District A 11 7 16 12 16 12 74 1010 600 1100 1200 1000 960 5.87
11th Wakefield AC 23 13 9 8 14 6 73 6210 1140 530 800 880 230 9.79
12th Milton Keynes AA 13 15 19 9 2 14 72 1240 1290 1710 910 70 1500 6.72
13th Peatmoor AC 21 14 13 5 7 11 71 3990 1280 950 500 400 950 8.07
14th Measham AA 4 9 10 22 9 17 71 180 710 540 3000 500 1840 6.77
15th Leigh & Dist Ospreys YAC 7 3 22 14 6 18 70 500 50 2160 1530 250 1900 6.39
16th Boston & DIstrict AA 6 10 11 4 20 19 70 360 790 630 490 1730 2000 6.00
17th Evesham DAA 10 17 5 20 13 4 69 800 1350 170 2810 750 50 5.93
18th Lamb AC Juniors 15 12 3 10 12 0 52 1600 1000 110 1060 700 0 4.47
19th SAFE 3 5 4 15 15 8 50 120 280 150 1570 890 300 3.31
20th Worksop & DIstrict B 5 8 12 0 4 9 38 240 680 680 0 200 440 2.24
21st Holbeach & District AC 8 0 0 6 19 0 33 520 0 0 560 1600 0 2.68
22nd Shirebrook AC 0 4 6 3 3 5 21 0 160 200 250 120 140 0.87
INDIVIDUALS
POS PEG NAME TEAM WEIGHT WEIGHT (Kg)
1 A 20 J Whitley Wakefield AC 6210 6.21
2 A 1 Tom Woodruff Tameside Fox Match 5500 5.50
3 A 3 L Hancock Peatmoor AC 3990 3.99
4 B 14 James Jackson Smartbait Leeds 3830 3.83
5 A 23 Adam Dowd Smartbait Leeds 3240 3.24
6 D 13 Adam Jukes Warrington AA Red 3210 3.21
7 F 21 Ben Lockwood Mosella Farnborough & Di 3130 3.13
8 D 18 Adam Rowett Measham AA 3000 3.00
9 C 6 Luke Morley Mosella Farnborough & Di 2940 2.94
10 D 14 Will Buckie Mosella Farnborough & Di 2930 2.93
INTERMEDIATE TOP TEN TEAM POSITIONS
POS TEAM A B C D E F TOTAL (PTS) A B C D E F WEIGHT (Kg)
1st Mosella Farnbor & D Gold 12 18 17 14 18 14 93 2350 1980 2670 2120 4970 3600 17.69
2nd Mosella Farnbor & D Blue 15 17 11 16 9 18 86 3780 1860 1030 2530 1170 5450 15.82
3rd Peatmoor AC Blue 13 16 13 11 17 6 76 2540 1780 1130 1600 4740 1400 13.19
4th Holbeach & District AC 16 14 15 13 11 5 74 4000 1700 1600 1960 1450 1380 12.09
5th Warrington AA 14 3 7 18 14 16 72 2700 520 700 3750 2390 3900 13.96
6th Smartbait Leeds Gold 18 15 3 4 15 13 68 9850 1750 420 450 2400 3440 18.31
7th Lincoln & Dist AA 8 4 12 8 16 17 65 1250 570 1060 1300 2980 4550 11.71
8th Tameside Fox Match Youth 7 6 18 12 12 8 63 1150 620 3190 1870 1600 1680 10.11
9th Peatmoor AC Red 11 13 4 9 8 12 57 2290 1680 550 1360 1110 2780 9.77
10th Pride of Derby Junior An 4 12 9 17 6 9 57 650 1520 860 3700 490 1700 8.92
11th Leigh & Dis Ospreys YAC 5 8 10 5 13 10 51 930 870 920 530 2160 1810 7.22
12th Measham AA 3 2 16 15 4 2 42 480 220 2140 2190 360 370 5.76
13th Smartbait Leeds Silver 17 9 1 0 3 11 41 4660 990 20 0 140 2140 7.95
14th Evesham DAA 10 5 14 7 0 4 40 2230 610 1150 1200 0 1170 6.36
15th Boston & District AA 6 11 5 2 11 3 38 960 1260 610 130 1450 1040 5.45
16th Barnsley & District 9 7 8 6 7 0 37 2130 800 730 850 920 0 5.43
17th Milton Keynes AA 2 10 2 10 5 7 36 40 1160 50 1380 370 1610 4.61
18th Wakefield AC 0 0 6 3 0 15 24 0 0 670 240 0 3660 4.57
INDIVIDUALS
POS PEG NAME TEAM WEIGHT WEIGHT (Kg)
1 A 12 Dale Shepherd Smartbait Leeds Gold 9850 9.85
2 F 10 Harry Marsh Mosella Farnbor & D Blue 5450 5.45
3 E 18 Anthony Flint Mosella Farnbor & D Gold 4970 4.97
4 E 7 D Freeman Peatmoor AC Blue 4740 4.74
5 A 13 Ryan Asquith Smartbait Leeds Silver 4660 4.66
6 F 11 Kevin McQuiston Lincoln & Dist AA 4550 4.55
7 A 6 Cameron Flowers Holbeach & District AC 4000 4.00
8 F 17 Ian Morrison Warrington AA 3900 3.90
9 A 7 Marcus Commons Mosella Farnbor & D Blue 3780 3.78
10 D 3 Joe Dagnall Warrington AA 3750 3.75
