Amidst some of the best trout fishing (rainbows and browns) in the New World, England were not able to hold onto a podium position at the end of last week's FIPS-Mouche World Fly Fishing Championship, 2008. The team made a good start, closing the first day in seventh place, climbing to a fantastic third by the end of the second day, with John Horsey also in third individual place, and within a single point of the individual gold medal position.
The final day spoiled the show for Team England, with only Simon Robinson improving his position to finish in a creditable seventh place overall, behind John Horsey, the top England rod just off the podium in fourth. The Team dropped to sixth place, out of a total of 18 teams.
The simply outstanding Czech team finished as World Champions, also taking both the gold and bronze individual medals. The home team finished higher than in any previous World Championships, to take the team silver, with the ever magnificent French taking the team bronze. France's Julien Daguillanes also stole the individual silver medal. The World Champion is Martin Droz, of the Czech Republic, with Tomas Starychfojtu, also of Czech in bronze medal position.
Other home teams competing were Ireland (11th) and Wales (17th). A placing point is significant in a Championship at this level, and with the placing points of each of the top six teams presented, we can see that, finally, the Czechs, and the other two podium teams, were completely dominant. The placing points are as follows (with the smaller the numbers the better the performance): Czech, 125; New Zealand, 148; France, 164; Poland, 186; Italy, 196 and England, 197. To put this in clearer perspective, the last team of the 18 scored 333 placing points. Much analysis of individual sectors and sessions will now be undertaken, by the medal winning teams and all the others.
I will have a lot of insight from our England team-mates, as well as some of the competitors I know in the Czech and Poland teams, and I will report back on this in due course. I already know that the fishing in New Zealand was simply breathtaking, with enormous numbers of large trout being caught both in practice and during the Championship. The Czech team, for example, caught a total of 383 fish in all the sessions, while England caught 272. The least number of fish caught by any team was 86. In the end, however, the best teams were successful, no matter how individuals rationalise their own sectors and performances. In the meantime, we are now entering the final stages in England for the upcoming European Championships in Spain, during May.
Well done Team England, because sixth out of 18 might not be what we wanted, but it is good, and the England squad for the future will be that much better prepared and increasingly competitive because of this experience and effort. Particular congratulations must go to the outstanding, truly World Class competitors, John Horsey and Simon Robinson, both achieving those magical top 10 places.
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