**** ,as I said on the other thread, I believe that an explicit aim of the organisers was to keep the Musto comp. 'real'. I've never had anything to do with tournament casting, but everything I've read about it, including stuff by people who do go in for it, seems to indicate that much of what goes on bears very little relation to real fishing. Double handed overhead tournament casters typically use 17' rods loaded with a T120 head and 8lb mono running line!
I suspect (though cannot say for sure) that M Evans & Musto have deliberately avoided getting drawn into conforming to any of the Casting Federation rules precisely because they want to avoid these caricatures of proper fishing outfits. It seems to me that they have succeeded in establishing a set of rules which do resemble actual fishing conditions reasonably closely - after all, if you wanted ultimate distance on the river, you might well opt for a rod of more than 17', as a number of members of this board do.
BTW, although there is a small stream (the Glyme) at Blenheim, I think you could touch the oposite bank with an 18' rod! I'm pretty sure the comp. will be on still water again. I went to the Game Fair when it was last there (I think 4 years ago) & am certainly hoping to make it there again. Would be great to meet anyone coming over for it.