World fly casting championships report Norway 2010
Posted by mikeh On January 31st, 2011Well after much anticipation the first ever World championships in fly casting with fishing tackle has been and gone and what an event it was! Here’s what happened.
On Thursday 12th of August, after a long trip from the UK, Team GB and Team Ireland finally arrived in the very beautiful town of Fagernes, located in the Valdres region of Norway around 3 ½ hours drive north of Oslo. A stunning mix of rolling hills and valleys interspersed with lakes and rivers, this was the staging point for inaugural casting championships and few more idyllic back drops; I’m sure could be found.
|
NAME
|
NATION
|
TIME
|
SCORE
|
|
Steve Rajeff
|
USA
|
03.30
|
78
|
|
Jarl Birkrnes Gjessing
|
Norway
|
02.55
|
59
|
|
Mikael Bloomburg
|
Norway
|
03.36
|
56
|
|
Knut Ekelund
|
Norway
|
04.15
|
53
|
|
Nicolai Eriksen
|
Denmark
|
03.21
|
50
|
|
Stein Gronberg
|
Norway
|
04.24
|
50
|
Some unreal casting, saw the first men’s world champion crowned, the ever present Steve Rajeff being the eventual winner, once again with a near perfect round of 74.
The final result was:
|
NAME
|
NATION
|
SCORE
|
MEDAL
|
|
Steve Rajeff
|
USA
|
74
|
GOLD
|
|
Mikael Bloomburg
|
Norway
|
60
|
SILVER
|
|
Stein Gronberg
|
Norway
|
53
|
BRONZE
|
The 5 weight trout distance saw some very difficult conditions indeed, a mixture of either heavy rain, no wind, wind, light air and dead air made qualifying tough but 2 members of Team GB and Team Ireland made it through to the final. The final once again saw some difficult conditions which were steadily getting worse with a nasty wind picking up coming over the casters right shoulders. The results were as follows:
QUALIFYING FINAL
|
NAME
|
NATION
|
2nd longest
|
Longest
|
2nd longest
|
Longest
|
MEDAL
|
|
Per Grønberg
|
Norway
|
33
|
33
|
32.5
|
32.5
|
GOLD
|
|
Ruairi Costello
|
Ireland
|
32
|
33
|
31.5
|
31.5
|
SILVER
|
|
Sakari Siipilehto
|
Finland
|
33
|
34
|
30.5
|
31.5
|
BRONZE
|
|
Paul Arden
|
UK
|
33.5
|
34
|
28.5
|
30
|
4th
|
|
Jan Vidar Josephsen
|
Norway
|
34.5
|
36
|
26
|
29.5
|
5th
|
|
Mikael Blomberg
|
Norway
|
34
|
34
|
26
|
26.5
|
6th
|
The Seatrout distance was the third event to take place, some very tough conditions for the qualifying saw distances down on what many would have expected but some outstanding casting from Ruairi saw him top qualification with a fantastic cast of 40.5 meters. Only the accuracy and the sea trout distance saw the leading qualifier quite so far ahead of the rest of the field. Once again 2 casters from Ireland and the UK made it through. The final saw the worsening weather at full effect the strong wind from the right shoulder of the casters made life very difficult with many catching themselves several times during the 4 minute final. As with the #5 weight final an outside lane draw was a big advantage over the inside, which seemed to suffer the wind more. A close final saw Mikael Blomberg pick up Gold, which made up for the disappointment of the #5 final.
|
NAME
|
NATION
|
2nd longest
|
Longest
|
2nd longest
|
Longest
|
MEDAL
|
|
Mikael Blomberg
|
Norway
|
36
|
36.5
|
47.5
|
49.5
|
GOLD
|
|
Jonathan Tomlinson
|
UK
|
36.5
|
36.5
|
44
|
46.5
|
SILVER
|
|
Mathias Lilleheim
|
Norway
|
36
|
36
|
45.5
|
46
|
BRONZE
|
|
Ruairi Costello
|
Ireland
|
39
|
40.5
|
45
|
45
|
4th
|
|
Stein Grønberg
|
Norway
|
36.5
|
37
|
40.5
|
44
|
5th
|
|
Ronny Landin
|
Sweden
|
36
|
36
|
43
|
43.5
|
6th
|
The salmon overhead was always going to be a hotly contested event for the Norwegians and the qualifying was very close with just 2 meters covering 1st and 6th. As expected 4 of the 6 finalists were from Norway with Ruairi ever present once again making his third final of the day, a fantastic achievement 3 out of 3 on day 1.
The stronger winds in the final saw some very good distances cast with the top 3 all tipping over the 50m mark a great achievement with a floating line weighing no more than 55 grams and just a 15’ salmon rod.
QUALIFYING FINAL
|
NAME
|
NATION
|
2nd longest
|
Longest
|
2nd longest
|
Longest
|
MEDAL
|
|
Mikael Blomberg
|
Norway
|
48
|
48.5
|
51.5
|
54.5
|
GOLD
|
|
Ruairi Costello
|
Ireland
|
46
|
47
|
49
|
50
|
SILVER
|
|
Mathias Lilleheim
|
Norway
|
47.5
|
49
|
47
|
50
|
BRONZE
|
|
Eric Hernes Larsen
|
Norway
|
46
|
47
|
49.5
|
49.5
|
4th
|
|
Tommy Aarkvisla
|
Norway
|
41.5
|
47
|
48
|
49
|
5th
|
|
Ronny Landin
|
Sweden
|
47
|
47
|
46
|
48
|
6th
|
A well-deserved drink followed more practice with the 15’ Spey and 18’ Spey rods with the events being held the next day there was no rest for the competitors.
Another early start gave a chance to get warmed up before qualification took place. The 15’ 1″ Spey from water saw a bit of chop on the water, which didn’t help clearing the line from a less than elevated height. The waves clinging onto the line when lifting had the very best casters pulling out all of the stops and the crowd saw some huge casts. Once again Ruairi made it through to the final this time joined by fellow Irishman Gerard Downey.
QUALIFYING FINAL
|
NAME
|
NATION
|
Longest left
|
Longest right
|
Total
|
Longest left
|
Longest right
|
TOTAL
|
MEDAL
|
|
Gerard Downey
|
Ireland
|
48
|
52
|
100
|
48
|
53
|
101
|
GOLD
|
|
Eric Hernes Larsen
|
Norway
|
47
|
55
|
102
|
46.5
|
51
|
97.5
|
SILVER
|
|
Gier Hansen
|
Norway
|
51.5
|
45.5
|
97
|
53.5
|
44
|
97.5
|
BRONZE
|
|
Ruairi Costello
|
Ireland
|
49
|
46
|
95
|
45
|
50
|
95
|
4th
|
|
Knut Syrstad
|
Norway
|
47.5
|
48
|
95.5
|
47
|
46
|
93
|
5th
|
|
Tommy Aarkvisla
|
Norway
|
50
|
42
|
92
|
49
|
42
|
91
|
6th
|
The final event of the championships was the 18’ Spey casting this was eagerly anticipated by many of the crowd as some huge casts were on the cards. All the best Spey casters in the world were vying for the opportunity to claim the first ever official world Spey casting champion title. The usual suspects were battling it out with Andrew Toft, Gerard Downey and once again Ruairi Costello made it all through to the afternoon final. Flat calm hot conditions made the casting very tough with only the very best standing a chance of glory.
|
NAME
|
NATION
|
2nd longest
|
Longest
|
2nd longest
|
Longest
|
MEDAL
|
|
Andrew Toft
|
UK
|
56
|
58
|
55.5
|
58
|
GOLD
|
|
Eric Hernes Larsen
|
Norway
|
57.5
|
58
|
58
|
58.5
|
SILVER
|
|
Ruairi Costello
|
Ireland
|
53
|
57.5
|
58
|
58.5
|
SILVER
|
|
Gerard Downey
|
Ireland
|
58
|
59
|
55.5
|
56
|
4th
|
|
Mathias Lilleheim
|
Norway
|
53
|
54.5
|
52
|
52.5
|
5th
|
|
Harold Okern Jensen
|
Norway
|
50.5
|
53
|
50
|
50.5
|
6th
|
In Total we had 10 finalist spots for UK and Ireland, which was amazing especially considering that we only had 7 competitors from the British Isles taking part in the championships. 2 World champions in Gerard Downey and Andrew Toft for the 15’ 1″ Spey and 18’ Spey, Silver medals for Rauri Costello in trout distance, salmon distance and 18’ Spey and silver for Jonathan Tomlinson in Seatrout distance saw a collective tally of 2 gold and 4 silver medals. There was more to come at the presentation and medal ceremony. The overall individual world fly casting champion deservedly went to Rauiri Costello who not only managed to win 3 individual silver medals but also more importantly made the final of all 5 of the events that he entered. A fantastic all round effort from officially the best caster in the world!
It was a great event that was exceptionally well organised. I hope that the event continues in the future. Many new friendships were made, priceless memories created and laughs had, a truly fantastic experience that I personally cant wait to have again!
All the best
Tomo
A quick wander around to get our bearings, a brief practice and we were making our way to the opening ceremony in the hotel. As we stood there we surveyed a room full of the highest quality casters in the world, it was a “who’s who” of competitive casters.
A relatively early night was the plan; but as ever excitement mixed with some healthy nervousness put pay to that for many. 6.30am and it was time to get up, unfortunately it was met with heavy rain, a stark contrast to the glorious sunshine and high temperatures from the previous day but it was to be the same for everyone!
Competitions started from 9am and we all had are allotted times to compete in the qualifying with the ultimate objective being to make the top 6 and the finals in our chosen events. Friday saw 4 events for the men and 4 for the women: trout accuracy (#5), trout distance (#5), Sea trout distance (27 gram lines) and salmon overhead (55 gram lines). All 4 events would have the finals that same day and 4 new world champions.
The accuracy was the first event, tough conditions with the heavy rain saw proceedings halted temporarily but after little sign of the rain abating, qualifying got back under way. Steve Rajeff lead the way with a near perfect score of 78 out of a possible 80.
The line up for the final was:
