Senators, DrumSpirit and Jong Jubal are the DCE champions of 2007. Thousands of drum corps enthusiasts enjoyed the climax of the European drum corps competition at Rotterdam's Sparta Stadium yesterday.

For the first time in history, the DCE Open Class title was won by a British corps. The Senators won the Prelims in the afternoon, and managed to maintain its lead position in the evening (90.05). Beatrix took silver in the end (89.40), after being overtaken by Jubal in the Prelims. Third place went to Jubal (88.95).

The Brits were strongly represented at the top of the Open Class yesterday evening. In addition to the Senators, Northern Star (fourth place, 87.95) and Kidsgrove Scouts (fifth place, 85.30) also reached the top five. Juliana came in sixth (82.60) after surrendering points from their afternoon score, but seem to be better at finding their way to the top.

The Starriders did fantastically well as the best German participant and came in at a surprising seventh place (78.40). Newcomer Millennium proved to both spectators and judges that they have suddenly become a very serious contender in the European drum corps competition, by coming from nowhere to take eighth place (77.70).

The Wölper Löwen also had little difficulty in the afternoon in qualifying for the Finals and settled down to ninth place (76.40), and the Poynton Commodores also reached the evening (73.70). Those corps that (just) missed the Finals include Black Knights, Federatieband, 6th Hove Scouts, Distant Thunder and Fidele Vogelsanger.

In the Percussion Class, DrumSpirit turned out to be ‘lord and master’. With a score of 80.50, the Belgians took gold for the third consecutive year. Rhythm Stars came in second (73.30), and although Göteborg Drum Corps took third place again this year, the Swedes came far closer to reaching the top two (71.90). Jong Jubal retained its title in the Cadet Class (80.30) with Jong Beatrix behind by less than three points (77.00. Jong Avalance came in third (67.75).

More details and the full recap sheets can be found on the Drum Corps Europe web site at http://www.drumcorpseurope.org