Barnsley and District AAS cruised to victory in the inaugural Preston Innovations “World Club Classic” fished on Warwickshire’s river Avon on 24th and 25th September.

Ten of the country’s top teams lined up for a 2 day event to find out who would represent England in next year’s FIPSed World Club Championships in Serbia. The competing teams had all qualified for this event after finishing in the top ten of the Angling Trust’s first Division National Championships earlier in the year.

The competition is a brand new format to decide which team will go to Serbia in 2011 replacing the old method where the Div 1 Championship winners automatically went forward. From now on 10 teams will compete over 2 x 4 hour matches fished to FIPSed rules giving all competitors an insight into what to expect when qualifying.

With sponsors Preston Innovations giving a fabulous £7,000 to the winning team there was noticeable buzz of excitement amongst the anglers on the first morning which carried on through the weekend.

Conditions were not ideal after we experienced a heavy overnight frost and with bright sunshine throughout most of the day fishing was difficult. The river was clear and not carrying much pace so bait presentation was of paramount importance and without the use of bloodworm and joker, catches would have been considerably worse. The Barnsley lads seemed to cope much better on the first day and took a considerable lead into day two. Joint favourites Starlets and Shakespeare Redditch were still in the mix however, with these two teams separated by Maver Image VDE.

Pole fishing at 13m (the international limit) produced small roach, perch and gudgeon for most anglers with the odd quality perch succumbing to a chopped worm approach. Joker introduced in a leam based mix with bloodworm on the hook was the most productive method for many but day one individual winner Leigh Gardner Shakespeare Redditch caught most of his 3.150 kilos on maggot and waggler.

Day one results:
1. Barnsley and District 18 points.
2. Starlets 23 pts.
3. Maver Image VDE.28 pts
4. Shakespeare Redditch 28 pts.
5. Drennan North West 29 pts.
6. Collins Green 33 pts
7. Fox Match Trentman 36 pts
8. Browning Hotrods 44 pts
9. Maver Tipton VDE 45 pts
10. Garbolino Harrisons Lincs County 46 pts

Day two started similarly to day one, but an overcast sky was expected to improve catches slightly. Although there was not a dramatic increase in weights, more fish were caught.
Ricky Teale fishing for Collins Green hooked and landed 3 small barbel in his winning weight of 3.760 kilos and since Ricky was presenting the cheque for Preston Innovations it was only fitting that he went home with some money in his pocket.

The overall individual winner was Shakespeare Redditch angler Michael Buchwalder with a day one section second place and a day two section win saw him £1000 richer thanks to the sponsors.

A Starlets fight back saw them the winning team on day two but they were unable to claw back the 5 points deficit from day one and they had to settle for runners- up spot with Maver Image VDE increasing their lead over Shakespeare Redditch to stay in third spot.

Team Result:
1. Barnsley and District AAS 40 pts
2. Starlets 44 pts
3. Maver Image VDE 53 pts
4. Shakespeare Redditch 62 pts
5. Fox Match Trentman 63.5 pts
6. Drennan North West 66 pts
7. Collins Green 68 pts
8. Browning Hotrods 81.5 pts
9. Garbolino Harrison’s Lincs County 90 pts
10. Maver Tipton VDE 92 pts.

The Barnsley and District AAS team were presented with the £7,000 winners’ cheque by Ricky Teale representing sponsors Preston Innovations. Ricky made reference to the importance of this kind of FIPSed rules match and he was delighted with the reaction to the event by all the teams taking part. Barnsley will now go to Serbia next June representing England in the FIPSed World Club Championships hoping to become the first English team to win Gold since FIPSed took over control from Browning in the late 1980s.