The weather Gods smiled on us, I drove through downpours on the way up and on the way home, Several times we were told it was raining just a few miles away but all we had as a nuisance shower as we did the accuracy and while packing the gear away. The breeze was pretty well non existent apart from the odd gentle puff now and then. The air was a bit heavy so we were never going to cast any records, except one of us did, more on that later.

I think Oswestry is one of my favourite events of the year. It always pulls in a good attendance and we are always well looked after by the Rugby club. Naomi even made some early bacon sarnies for those of us who needed a breakfast. What a nice woman.

We seem to have settled on a formula that appears to work well. We do the tournament heavy stuff first thing which gives anyone who wants some instruction time to get some in before we tackle the full line events in the afternoon and they then feel more comfortable joining in.

The majority of the instruction fell to Mark Surtees, Sekhar Bahadur and Paul Brown, who were all kept busy most of the day. Many thanks guys, you do a brilliant job that adds so much to the enjoyment of the people who turn up.

The results are up so I won’t bother repeating them except to say that in the conditions there were some commendable distances. Anything over 100′ in the five weight or 110′ in the seven weight  was bloody good going so Lisa Isles 112′ 7” in the #7 was an outstanding cast and well deserving of her new womens record. In better conditions and with some distance coaching I wouldn’t be surprised to see her take it beyond 120′. Well done Lisa.

The conditions were good enough to have an accuracy competition to finish the day off. Mark had to be dragged to the okey kicking and screaming and then proceeded to win the event.

The distance badges are often a testament to the instruction those who are awarded them have received during the day so well done Leighton McDonnell, Malcolm Milner, Matt Pearson and Sekhar.

As I mentioned before we were well looked after by the rugby club throughout the day so a big thank you to them. Thanks to everyone who helped with the running of the completion and a big thank you to everyone who turned up to make the day so enjoyable.

See you next year

Mike H

Normally distance casters would moan about the still, humid, high pressure conditions that they were faced with in Oswestry, however being as the forecast was for torrential rain and lightning we were glad to cast in such benign weather.

Distances are in feet and inches:

#5F – Mike Heritage 112.05; James Evans 111.06; Andrew Bagshaw 104.07; Sekhar Bahadur 100.04; John Reynolds 95.01; Tracy Thomas 91.03; Lisa Isles 91.02; Paul Ainsworth 86.03; Nigel Conlon 84.02; Pat Stevens 83.00; Steven Lindley 83.00; Dylan Roberts 82.05; Leighton McDonnell 81.03

#7F – Mike Heritage 118.06; John Reynolds 115.00; James Evans 113.07; Lisa Isles 112.07; Andrew Bagshaw 105.10; Paul Ainsworth 105.07; Sekhar Bahadur 103.04; Tracy Thomas 101.01; Dylan Roberts 92.09; Nigel Conlon 86.00; Steven Lindley 85.00; Leighton McDonnell 85.00; Pat Stevens 76.08

B100 (#5 + #7) Lisa Isles 203.09; Sekhar Bahadur 203.08; Paul Ainsworth 191.10; Dylan Roberts 175.02; Nigel Conlon 170.02; Stephen Lindley 168.00; Leighton McDonnell 166.03; Pat Stevens 159.08

ST27 – John Reynolds 130.11; James Evans 126.06; Lisa Isles 124.03; Mike Heritage 123.08; Tracy Thomas 121.07; Andrew Bagshaw 116.07; Paul Ainsworth 113.04; Nigel Conlon 110.06; Leighton McDonnell 88.04; Dylan Roberts 87.01; Pat Stevens 82.00

T38 – John Reynolds 167.05; James Evans 154.08; Andrew Bagshaw 153.01; Lisa Isles 142.09; Paul Ainsworth 142.00; Mike Heritage 141.01; Nigel Conlon 122.10; Leighton McDonnell 111.01; Tracy Thomas 111.00

T120 – James Evans 190.01; John Reynolds 179.04; Mike Heritage 177.05; Tracy Thomas 149.11; Andrew Bagshaw 147.04; Nigel Conlon 140.03; Leighton McDonnell 133.11; Lisa Isles 132.08

Accuracy (points) – Mark Surtees 43.00; James Evans 38.00; John Reynolds 37.00; Pat Stevens 35.00; Paul Brown 31.00; Mike Heritage 27.00; Tracy Thomas 23.00; Leighton McDonnell 18.00; Paul Ainsworth 15.00; Andrew Bagshaw 6.00

Meeting Championship Points – James Evans 12; John Reynolds 14; Mike Heritage 21; Andrew Bagshaw 32; Lisa Isles 38; Tracy Thomas 39; Paul Ainsworth 44; Nigel Conlon 52; Leighton McDonnell 56; Pat Stevens 57

Many congratulations to Lisa Isles for breaking the women’s #7 record, there’s clearly more to come given better conditions.

Distance badges were awarded to: Leighton McDonnell 30yd, Malcolm Milner 20 + 25yd, Matt Pearson 25yd and Sekhar Bahadur 30yd.  Really well done to all, especially given the poor conditions for achieving distance.

Just before the meeting we had the news that Mike Marshall had suffered a heart attack. As I write this a couple of weeks later I can tell you that Mike is home and recovering well. I am sure we all wish him well.

This was possibly the best meeting we have had in Ashford, It’s not an area known as a fly fishing hot spot. The weather was pretty good, the wind as fickle as ever. It was James and my turn to see the stiffish breeze seem to disappear whenever it was our turn to cast. There is no point me repeating the results, they are there in black and white on the results page. James 204′ with the T120 deserves a mention, he seems to have hit a purple patch with that outfit. Mick Copeman is like a good wine and gets better with age because he increased his S70 records in the five weight and ST27 (but I still want to see his birth certificate!)

Congratulations to Dan Shillabeer and David Fisher for qualifying for their 35yd and 40 badges respectively.

We didn’t have too many for the instructors to cope with so we were able to give everyone some quality time, which is nice. Not that all our instruction isn’t quality all the time, but not feeling the need to rush around trying to fit everybody in makes for a relaxed atmosphere and a pleasurable day for all.

One slightly unusual event happened, which, I think, sums up the BFCC. Mark Weatherley had heard about the event and came along to ‘just see what’s going on’. I suggested he watched the competition and, if he felt like it, he could help out with timing and marking. After lunch he asked if he could have some tuition. Tracy took a few bob off him and off we went. He kindly wrote a comment to the club afterwards and I have taken the liberty of publishing it here.

”What a very enjoyable day I had . Everybody was so friendly , even though it is a competition day. I was made very welcome to the point where I was even asked to do the timekeeping for the morning session . Having a casting lesson from one of the regular competitors was such a good idea and it is something I would suggest all novice anglers do , as it helps to show where you can improve and polish your technique, ( I will hopefully be able to cast as far if not further with better presentation all day without feeling exhausted) .I shall make a point of telling all new anglers that I meet on my fishing days out to visit one of the BFCC shows”.

This is by no means the first thank you the club has received but it does highlight the quality of work people like Mark Surtees, Trevor Hayman, RogerMiles, John Reynolds and others do to help improve peoples standards of fly casting.

Many thanks To Willesborough CC who hosted us and provided the refreshments again this year. And, finally, a big thank you to everyone who turned up and helped out and created such a good event.

MikeH