THE CHAMPIONS…the Starlets AS quartet of (left-to-right) Pat Kavanagh, Claire Dagnall, Julie Abbott and Helen Dagnall celebrate after their superb victory in the Team event at the Embassy Ladies National Angling Championship at Woodland View near Droitwich. 

HATS off to West Midlands side starlets AS, who took the gold in the Ladies National at Woodland View Fishery near Droitwich at the weekend.

With the match decided on weight, the team of Pat Kavanagh, Claire Dagnall, Julie Abbott and Helen Dagnall stormed to victory, ending up nearly 80lb clear of the second placed team with an impressive 200-11-12 total.

In fact the lasses took the top two individual places as well, Helen Dagnall pocketing gold with 91lb from Back Deans peg 64, a new record for the competition, and Julie Abbott taking the silver thanks to a 46-9-0 bag. Pat Kavanagh, who comes from Stourbridge and fishes the venue regularly, finished fifth with nearly 45lb.

The win represents a return for glory for Starlets, who last tasted glory in the event ten years ago. Claire and Julie were in the gold winning side in 1993 as well.

Result: 1 Starlets AS, 200-11-12; 2 Doncaster AA, 121-9-12; 3 Warrington AA Gold, 110-4-4; 4 The Whynots, 82-8-12; 5 Scunthorpe DAA, 81-12-4.

Individual: 1 HDagnall, Starlets AS, 91-1-0 (event record); 2 J Abbott, Starlets AS, 46-9-12; 3 S Scotthorne, Doncaster AA, 46-6-4; 4 S Semley, Worksop DAA, 46-3-4; 5 P Kavanagh, Starlets AS, 44-14-4.

 
A GREAT CATCH… Stourbridge’s Pat Kavanagh with part of her catch of 20.360kg that earned her fifth place in the Embassy Ladies National Angling Championship at Woodland View near Droitwich