Euro title for Fakenham woman angler

Fakenham angler Jean Balls has become the first British woman to win the European Open Beach Championships, held at Bridlington. Jean has been attending this roving match with husband Ian for the last few years and good fortune was with her from the start as she won �315 on a machine in the clubhouse the night before the first match.

Fakenham angler Jean Balls has become the first British woman to win the European Open Beach Championships, held at Bridlington.

Jean has been attending this roving match with husband Ian for the last few years and good fortune was with her from the start as she won �315 on a machine in the clubhouse the night before the first match.

The European Championships is fished over two days, with individual winners on both days and an overall champion after two days in each section - senior men's, ladies, juniors and teams of four.

The luck Jean found on the eve of the match stayed with her through the Saturday, as she claimed top spot in the women's section on day one with a flounder of 370g from Bridlington beach. Following the first day win, Jean planned to return again to Bridlington on the Sunday to see if she could match Saturdays' result, and sure enough at the weigh in, Jean triumphed again with a better flounder of 385g. Ian only managed undersized flounders, dabs, whiting and coalies. It was Jean that stole the honours and a selection of top prizes to boot.

Along with the Ladies European championship trophy, Jean's haul consisted of two beach rods, a tripod, samalite headlight, anyfish anywhere rig wallet and a penn multiplier reel. Not a bad weekend's work for two flounders!