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Angling: City man Barr is the new world champion
We may not have that many world champions in our midst in the world of sport but when it comes to fishing there are few countries in the world that can live with our international anglers.
We may not have that many world champions in our midst in the world of sport but when it comes to fishing there are few countries in the world that can live with our international anglers.In recent times we have been crowned world coarse fishing champions on quite a few occasions and have seen anglers such as Bob Nudd and Allan Scotthorne crowned individual champions many times.
It's now the turn of the England fly-fishing team to grab all the glory as they triumphed in the latest World Fly-Fishing Championship in Scotland.
There were 27 countries competing, which is a record, and the event included teams from Australia, Japan, South Africa, USA, Canada and many from across Europe including the four home nations.
The event was fished on four locks and the famous River Tay and the tale of success gets even better as Yaxley rod Iain Barr led England to victory by taking the individual world crown too.
It's the first time in 14 years an Englishman has scooped the top spot and I have been told our national side have never had a team and individual win in the same match.
So history was in the making as Barr and the England team started the three-day event, which took in five sessions.
Day one saw the team down in sixth place and with Barr only just making the top six too they had left themselves a lot of work to do.
After two days the team were a massive 57 points behind one of the favourites, France, but Barr was going strong and had fought his way to the top of the individual list, a position he never relinquished for the rest of the event.
In the fourth session they had clawed their way into contention and were within five points of France.
Then in the very last session the team leapfrogged the French to snatch the world crown from them and with Barr hanging onto his top spot they came home triumphant.
So, it was a remarkable achievement from the team and Barr. Well done to them all and in particular Barr - our very own local world champion.
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Weather for Peterborough
Saturday 11 February 2012
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