Mark Adams and Dean Amesbury from Tredegar have won the inaugural Wales Carp Masters at Celtic Lakes resort this weekend, lifting the magnificent trophy and collecting the wallet busting £10,001 cash first prize.The overall prize fund is the biggest in the UK amounting to £20,001. First prize was paid in £1 coins and the winning pair showered themselves in coins celebrating their victory. Three banks in Lampeter were cleaned out of coins to get sufficient for the first prize and heads turned as the huge quantity as were carried to the waiting car.
25 qualifying heats located at 5 different venues in Wales have taken place over the past 6 months from which the winning pairs qualified through to the grand final. The competitors battled it out in a 44 hour enduro which saw a total of 84 fish caught, weighing a total of 681lbs. Sky TV were on site and captured an unusual dance performed by the winners as the realisation that they had won was confirmed at the end of the competition. In Second place were Paul Jones and Anthony Budd who had been leading the competition from the start until the last 6 hours. They scooped £4,000 of prizes. The Father and son combination of Martin and Joe Newby came third and collected £3,000 in Prizes. Joe was the youngest competitor in the final at just 14 years old.
An additional prize was given for the first fish of the competition that was caught tipping the scales at an amazing 2 ounces!!! This was caught by Paul Morgan who said "it put up a great fight for its size"
Mark Adams said "winning the inaugural Wales Carp Masters with Dean is a dream come true. When we saw the prize table with all the £1 coins we could not believe our eyes. There was no way we could lift them up when we tried. We are looking forward to taking them to the bank and seeing the face of the cashier".
Event organisers Ross Honey and Peter Hands said "we created this event to help promote angling in Wales and we have had great support from Visit Wales, Regional Tourism Partnerships and The Environment Agency. When we saw the resort just over a year ago now and met the owner John Carney we were impressed with the plans he has, investing over £4.5M in the resort, it will create a massive boost for the local economy as an attraction and a great bench mark for Wales.
The event has been a massive success; we are looking forward to next year and developing this still further with the addition of an angling festival."
FINAL FULL RESULTS
OVERALL WINNERS
Dean Amesbury & Mark Adams
154.08 lbs
2nd PLACE
Paul Jones & Anthony Budd
107.13 lbs
3rd PLACE
Martin Newby & Joe Newby
97.13 lbs
4th PLACE
Mark Wozencroft & Garth Cullen
47.04 lbs
Total weight: 681.63
Total fish caught: 84
