Team honours in the Angling Trust Division Two National Championship went to canal experts and ‘local’ team Oakwood Angling who put their experience and knowledge of the Basingstoke Canal to good use by amassing 360 points, their lowest section points being a creditable 19 points on what was a very tough day.
Maver Bathampton finished in second place 33 points behind with 327 points and Maldon AS put in a fair amount of work to win promotion after finishing in third place with 311 points.
In the end 13 teams were promoted to the Division One National Championship for next year which is to be staged on the Bristol Avon – a completely different prospect for the anglers to contend with.
Individual honours went to Urban Moor Leeds’ Darren Hutchinson who drew end peg D47 in the middle of Fleet Town at Glen Road and although not expected to produce a national winning weight it was good enough on the day in what turned out to be a fairly low weight affair.
Darren’s 10.580 kg of bream was just enough to see off local rod Stuart Levers (Guildford AC Match Team) whom took a similar catch of bream of 10.220 kg from another ‘unknown’ peg at F11 in the turning bay below Pondtail Bridge. Third place was taken by Lee Tomlin (Billericay and Dist AC) from peg F27 also below Pondtail Bridge with 5.790 kg.
Over 5cm of rain fell on the Thursday prior to the match taking place and a downpour on the day dampened the 470 competitors and did not help to improve conditions. Although some of the canal’s carp fed well throughout the length they proved too big for the anglers to handle with many reports of big fish lost and only two were landed and so it was bream that made up the winning weights – and not from the expected areas of Eelmoor Flash or the Nature Reserve at Claycart.
The Angling Trust Division Two National Championship Event Organiser, Andre Grandjean was pleased with the overall event but was disappointed for the anglers that the canal didn’t fish as well as he had hoped. Andre would like to thank all the stewards and helpers on the day and the Officers of the Basingstoke Canal Angling Association for their help in running this match and also the anglers for their appreciation to the amount of work that goes into setting up these matches.
The top 10 teams from the Division Two National Championship are all promoted to the Division One National Championship in 2012 as below:
Oakwood Angling
Maver Bathampton
Maldon AS
Garbolino Blackmore Vale
Preston Innovation Thatchers
Colin Barlow AC Sale
Ted Carter Preston
Wakefield AC
Milo Bordon
Godalming Midweekers
Team Eclipse
Trabucco Thunderflash Halifax
Eastern MG
