Fishing: Alexandria man leads team to bronze medal at World Championships

Jul 10 2009 by Andy Galloway, Lennox Herald (main ed)

GEORGE McKenzie led Scotland’s fly fishing team to a bronze medal at the recent World Championships in his role as team manager.

The Alexandria man ensured the country’s first-ever medal-winning finish at the event, behind only winners England and 13-times champions France, who were runners-up.

The team achieved the feat despite a setback on the second of the tournament’s three days, and George reckons it’s the best achievement of his career.

He said: “We finished the first day third or fourth, but the second day was a bit of a disaster for us and we ended that day in ninth place.

“However, we came back on the third and final day and ended up taking the bronze medal, which was very pleasing.

“It’s the first time Scotland has been among the medals at the World Championships, and it was also quite an achievement as there were 27 countries taking part.

“It’s got to be the best achievement of my time in fishing, even though I’ve won medals at the Commonwealth and European Championships.”

George may return to the managerial position for next year’s championship, where Scotland will look to improve further on their medal haul.

He added: “We always knew the luck of the draw would be important to us. On the lochs we had an idea of what to expect, but the rivers were an unknown quantity.

“No team wanted to draw peg two on the second day, but that was what we got, and that blew us out a bit, although we managed to catch one fish.

“The conditions were the same for everybody, but there were that many blanks from us that the home advantage didn’t work out.

“But overall, to get the bronze medal is extremely pleasing and I’ll look at the possibility of managing Scotland at next year’s championships in Poland.”