A victorious finish for the England Feeder teams and a first class performance from Alex Bones for his individual win gave England a clean sweep of medals in the third Van Den Eyde Matrix International Feeder Fishing Challenge, held on the Ghent-Terneuzen canal in Holland with 25 teams from different parts of Europe taking part, including the reigning World Championship team Holland.
The England Feeder teams proved to be tough opposition for the other teams taking part in the event with England Team Green taking the gold medal spot with a team comprising: Alex Bones, Rob Wootton, Adam Rooney, Grant Albutt, and Adam Wakelin.
England Team Blue Team finished in second place with the line up comprising: Mick Vials, Darren Cox, Steve Ringer, Phil Ringer and Dean Barlow.
England Team Black finished in seventh place with Glenn Lawrence, Nick Speed, Wayne Bartholomew, Will Freemen and Eddie Brydon fishing.
In the individual category Alex Bones, captain of England Green, went on to win the gold medal with a perfect two point score. Rob Wootton finished second with three points, Nick Speed fourth with five points and Grant Albutt fifth with six points. England also scored well in the sections with wins for Mick Vials and Glenn Lawrence.
Alex Bones, captain of the winning England Green Team and winning individual, said:
“The fishing was very tough and three practise days prior to the event gave each of the three England teams a chance to formulate their intended plans. England team manager, Tommy Pickering allowed each of the team captains – myself captaining England Green, Mick Vials in charge of Blue and Glen Lawrence captaining Black – to decide on their own attack for each match.
“Our team won day one with an incredible 15 points and we managed a similar performance on day two to secure team gold overall. Two sections wins also gave me individual gold, which was the icing on an already overwhelming cake.”
Twenty five teams competed this year from all over Europe and to win team gold (Green), silver (Blue) and seventh (Black) along with my individual gold, Rob Wootton’s individual silver, Nick Speed’s fourth, Grant Albutt’s fifth and Mick Vials’ tenth was incredible!”
Tom Pickering, Preston Innovations England Feeder Team Manager, said:
“It fished really hard because of the very cold weather but the lads adapted well and found two methods to work on and they got it spot on. I was really proud of all fifteen anglers as they worked hard in practice and now I feel we have a great squad who understand what international fishing is about.
I would like to thank the lads for their professionalism on and off the water, and in particular Glenn Lawrence, Mick Vials, and Alex Bones who were captains of the teams and all led from the front by winning at least one section each.”
A full set of results is available from www.anglingtrust.net
