too. It’s at times like that where you need the back-up that only a true friend can give you. We drove each other on, helping


each other through it in the most diffi cult times, and where it would have been very easy for me to ease up, I drove my- self on. “There’s plenty of time for sleep when I’m dead” I kept telling myself.


STEVEWould it be fair to say that there have been anglers in the past who were in a position where they could have won, but ultimately didn’t because they lacked the drive and application to do so?


complacent or over confi dent. Rob was a little more receptive to the no- tion that we were going to win it, but I wanted that rocket to go up before I would believe it! With about 15 minutes left until the


rocket went up, I was in and out of the water retrieving sacked carp for the press. After releasing the last one, the marshals and press guys started to do a


‘There’s plenty of


TOM Without doubt. It’s not easy to keep going when you are out on your feet, it really is a severe test of your mettle. By the Thursday night, when we had


caught about 18 fi sh altogether, I was receiving a lot of texts and phone calls, telling me we were well ahead and on course to win the event. I tried to shun all mention of that, pushing it to the back of my mind... I just didn’t want to jeopardise our chances by becoming


George Cross right across the lake back to base.


STEVEAt the presentation ceremony it was obvious that Rob, in particular, was feeling the emotion of the moment. It was obviously a very proud moment for you both, but how would you describe it, Tom?


time to sleep when I’m dead, I kept telling myself’


countdown... “15, 14, 13 seconds to go”, and as I approached Rob, who was also wading in the margins, I pounced on him. - “get in there, we’ve done it”! That frolic was to account for the very last of my dry clothes! Then, no sooner had we packed our


gear away, we were picked up by the big speedboat and proudly fl ew the St


TOM I was so proud to be up there, sing- ing along to our national anthem with everyone joining in, it was amazing. It was all a bit surreal, to be honest, and very hectic. In fact, it wasn’t really until around 5.30am the following morning that it really sunk in. I quietly sneaked out of the gite and walked down to the lake to get some sunrise


photos. At that moment, with nobody around and looking up into the sky, I thanked the person looking down on me and thought to myself ‘Man, what a result, you’ve done it, you’re a World Carp Classic champion’.


STEVE What a feeling that must be, Tom – Thanks for sharing your story with us!


Magazine sponsored by Pescalis www.pescalis.com 11


Caption here.. Some opy into here for the caption to the picture above, thanks


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