Belated news seems to be the order of the day! ;-) Anyway, we can now finally conclude the over-all winner of the 2010 Tategoi Challenge, with the final casting vote coming from Okawa Koi Farm, as coincidentally, both of the finalists this year are from Okawa Koi Farm. The one on the left is now 53cm as Nisai, and the one on the right being 57cm. The winning Koi is the one on the right, and belongs to Raad Hassan (it was no fix!). The other one belongs to Stuart T. As his prize, Raad gets to use the value of his original Koi (£1900, pictured above) to use against another Koi of his choice.

What swung the decision on the Koi above, was the slightly stronger body of Raad's Koi, and the Kiwa being more refined. The skin condition was not so good at the time of photographing, but this is purely a 'condition' issue, and in no way reflects upon the skin quality, as you will see when she grows up.

This year was a close run between these two Koi, and a few others, including a Sanke (Greg), Okawa Kohaku (Paul), and Takeda Kohaku (Wayne).

Ironically, there was one Koi that was a little better than the rest, and this Koi was one we sold last Autumn as Nisai, after recommending her as the best of all last year's Koi to anyone that visited! This Koi measured 60cm as Nisai, but sold after the closing date of the challenge.

In case you are not already aware, any of this years Tosai purchased, already automatically qualify for the next challenge, to be concluded next Spring. The prize as always, is up to the value of the original Koi purchased, or a maximum of £2000. Most of this year's Koi fall inside this limit though, as did last year's Koi.

The closing date for purchases this year, will be August 15th. As last year, there will be two classes '£700 Class', and 'unlimited'.