A victorious finish for the England Feeder teams and 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 on 6th/7th April 2013 with 25 teams from different parts of Europe taking part, including the reigning World Champion team Holland.
The England Feeder teams proved tough going for the other teams taking part, with England Green taking the first place medal spot, which consisted of Alex Bones, Rob Wootton, Adam Rooney, Grant Albutt, and Adam Wakelin. England Blue team were; Mick Vials, Darren Cox, Steve Ringer, Phil Ringer and Dean Barlow who finished in silver medal place. England Black finished in seventh place with Glenn Lawrence, Nick Speed, Wayne Bartholomew, Will Freemen and Eddie Brydon.
In the individual category Alex Bones, Captain of England Green went on to win the gold medal with a fantastic perfect two point score, and Rob Wootton finished second individually with three points, Nick Speed fourth with five points, and Grant Albutt fifth with six points. England also scored well on the section wins for Mick Vials and Glenn Lawrence.
Alex Bones, Captain of the winning England Green team and winning individual stated “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 (Green), won day one with an incredible 15 points and we managed to replicate 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
