Bulgaria hosted the 63rd FIPS-ed Coarse Angling World Championships for Nations over the 17th and 18th of September 2016. 34 nations from around the world gathered to fish the rowing course in Plovdiv. Team England’s successful year on the world stage continued as they claimed a creditable third place in the competition.
Drennan Team England were led by joint managers Mark Downes and Mark Addy while the team was made up of the familiar names of Alan Scotthorne, Will Raison, Steve Hemingray, Callum Dicks, Des Shipp and Sean Ashby.
The rowing course had recently been stocked by the host nation and England expected carp and carrasio to be the main target but knew that other species such as small chub, sun perch and bleak were also in the match length.
England’s preparation in the lead up the match days went well, a full weeks practice saw all team members catching consistently throughout and this success game England a solid plan for the main event. England selected Alan Scotthorne, Will Raison, Steve Hemingray, Callum Dicks and Des Shipp for day one of the competition, the equally talented and experienced former World Champion Sean Ashby was the unlucky team member to sit out day one.
The first day of the competition went well for England as they finished 4th overall with 23 points, Hungary led the way on 12 points followed by Italy and Czech Republic on 15 and 19 points respectively. Will Raison’s superb performance saw him win his section on day one while Des Shipp finished second in his section, their performance provided the opportunity for a podium finish at the end of day two.
On day two England’s approach was to target big fish with the waggler, the approach paid off as England overtook an impressive Italian team to finish in 3rd place overall giving them a bronze medal while day one leaders Hungary managed to retain their lead giving them a gold medal while the Czech team moved from over night 3rd place to 2nd and take the silver. Jernej Ambrozic from Slovenia was crowned individual World Champion while Czech angler Josef Konopasek won silver with Rastislav Dudr from Slovakia winning individual bronze.
Mark Downes, England Team Manager said “This year’s World Championships were difficult to say the least. The Team managed to formulate a plan but we always knew we were playing catch up with the Czech Republic and Italy as they had performed incredibly well throughout the practice week.
A fourth place finish on day one looked reasonable but with Italy and Czech teams still ahead, we knew getting a medal would be difficult. As it turned out Italy had a disaster on day two and we stole the Bronze medal. It could have been better, Alan Scotthorne and Sean Ashby had particularly difficult days, but superb two day results from the rest of the team got us on the podium.
Both Will Raison, the best angler on the bank all week, and Des Shipp were just one fish away each from becoming World Champions, Will, unlucky again, having to return a big fish, having snagged the line of the Frenchman at the next peg.”
Top 6 Team results
1st Hungary 34 points
2nd Czech Republic 42 points
3rd England 46 points
4th Italy 54 points
5th Sweden 58 points
6th France 60 points
Top 6 Individual Results
1st Jernej Ambrozic, Slovenia 2 points (13.369kg)
2nd Josef Konopasek, Czech Republic 3 points (13.788kg)
3rd Rastislav Dudr. Slovenia 3 points (10.787kg)
4th Mitja Kmetec, Slovenia 4 points (15.556kg)
5th Will Raison, England 4 points (14.884kg)
6th Tamas Walter, Hungary 4 points (11.694kg)
England placings;
5th Will Raison, 4 points (14.884kg)
9th Callum Dicks, 5 points (13.100kg)
12th Des Shipp, 6 points (14.599kg)
18th Steve Hemingray, 7 points (13.169kg)
164th Alan Scotthorne, 27 points (2.981kg)
178th Sean Ashby, 31 points (1.013kg)
The Angling Trust and Drennan Team England would like to offer their appreciation to their sponsors Drennan and Peter Drennan for all their continued support.
