July 2010 - The CLA Gamefair, Ragley Hall
01/07/2010
A resounding success for Carron this year at the CLA Gamefair with a win of first, second and third places in the Open speycasting distance competition.
First place went to Andrew Toft, one of the stalwarts of our Carron team, who achieved a winning distance of 64.95 metres in Sundays final.
Andrew Toft, Carron winner of the 2010 CLA Open Speycasting competition, receiving his prizes from the Marquis of Hertford.
Ragley Hall was a new venue for the CLA this year and Fisherman's village surrounding the lake at Ragley was a perfect showcase for anglers and casters alike.
The Open Speycasting qualifying rounds, took place over two days with the showcase final in front of the grandstand on the Sunday. There was an international feel to competition as competitors had travelled as far away as Japan , Norway, Ireland and all corners of the UK.
It is always good to meet up with old friends and make new ones at these events and it also gives us a chance to discuss new tactics and keep up to date with the latest equipment available.
We learn so much at the events - knowledge that we try to bring forward to our ever increasing range of rods and Jetstream lines.
The organisers had added laser marking this year from Storm geomatics which proved to be very quick, accurate and efficient. They also provided two judges in a boat double checking the figures as the competition progressed. Weather conditions seemed to be at their best on Friday as the wind on Saturday and Sunday morning proved to be difficult with strong crosswinds.
The top six qualifiers achieving the longest casts would go forward to Sundays Grand Final and these proved to be:
| 1st | Andrew Toft ( Carron) | 64.0m |
| 2nd | Gerard Downey (Carron) | 63.4m |
| 3rd | Mathias Lilliheim (Norway) | 61.0m |
| 4th | Ruairi Costello (Carron) | 60.5m |
| 5th | James Chalmers (Carron) | 58.2m |
| 6th | Michael Egan | 57.0m |
Sunday's final proved to be a very exciting affair with the wind causing problems for all competitors, the crowd were not disappointed as the 6 finalists produced a first class display of top quality Spey casting.
The final results:
| 1st | Andrew Toft | 64.95m |
| 2nd | Gerard Downey | 62.5m |
| 3rd | James Chalmers | 58.75m |
| 4th | Mathias Lilliheim | 58.25m |
| 5th | Ruairi Costello | 56.5m |
| 6th | Michael Egan | 52.0m |
Andrew Toft with his winning cast.
The Carron boys took the top three places and pictured from left to right are:
Gerard Downey in 2nd place, Andrew Toft the CLA Champion & James Chalmers 3rd place
James Chalmers receiving the Manufacturers trophy from Andrew Toft on behalf of Carron Rod & Case Company.
We would like to offer a big thank you to all those who participated and helped make it such a memorable weekend and with particular thanks to the Salmon and Trout Association who did a sterling and often thankless job organising the official judging. Thank you everyone.
Looking forward to 2011