Preparations are taking place in Newry for the biggest coarse angling event on the canal in many years with the return of the Home International Championships where teams of some of the best anglers from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland will fish for the title. The National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland are delighted that their proposed venue was selected by the team managers for the long awaited for return of this competition. The championships to be organised and hosted by Irish International Team Manager, Mark Theedom and the Newry Canal Coarse Fishing Club will take place on the O’Rourkes Coal Yard stretch of the canal on Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th of October. The NCFFI have been working with Newry, Mourne and Down District Council and the Loughs Agency to open this middle bank venue to the coarse angler complimenting the various facilities in the canal area and welcome their partners support for this event.
A new format has been introduced to Home Internationals to allow the less experienced angler to take part and we shall see teams consisting of Under 25’s fish alongside international players to include the first angler to win five freshwater championships, England’s Alan Scotthorne and former world champion Will Raison. We can expect the teams on the bank on Wednesday ahead of an official practice day on Thursday 22nd October while the match itself takes place over two days on Friday and Saturday, fishing from 11am to 3pm. Spectators are welcome to come along to cheer on the teams – for more details and a list of the competing team members please visit www.ncffi.ie/home-international-newry-2015
Ahead of the event the Team Ireland members Vincent Walsh, David Herron, James Gargan, Philip Walton, Tommy Dowd, James O’Doherty and Peter Nolan will take part in the Newry Team Challenge which will see the Home International Team Ireland take on a challenge from the Team Ireland Junior Internationals to fish the venue this Saturday, 17th October.
