Sun 1st - East Cheshire Hospice Charity Fundraiser - Fermain Centre, Beswick Street, off Oxford Road, Macclesfield, SK11 8JG – Weights - Men – 580, 600, 640, 680, 720, catchweight - Ladies and Youth – 500, 520, 540 and 560 - 6 a side novice competition - Contact Alan Knott for further information on 07976 591222
Sun 1st - Cranleigh Agricultural Show, Cranleigh, Surrey - Weigh In - 10am - First Pull - 11am - Weights - 600, 640, 680 - Contact Peter Tuckwell for further information on 0208 979 1816. NOTE: Free entry tickets to the show will be issued at the public entrance. No refunds will be given to those who buy tickets to get in the show.
SUNDAY 18TH JULY - FORGE LANE TOWC RESULTS
Men Catchweight - Winners - Felton Eccles - Runners Up - Lincoln
Men 680 - Winners - Felton Eccles - Runners Up - Lincoln
Men 640 - Winners - Oxney - Runners Up - Forge Lane
Men 600 - Winners - Oxney - Runners Up - Forge Lane
SATURDAY 10TH JULY - CONGLETON CARNIVAL RESULTS
Tug of war returned to Congleton Carnival this year, an event that runs every two years. Only a small number of teams turned out, but they put on a good show for the large amount of spectators in attendance. Three weights were contested at 600 kilos, 640 kilos and 680 kilos. Hanging Bridge won all three weight classes on the day, with Bosley finishing as runners up in the 640 kilos and 680 kilos weight classes. Stretton finished as runners up in the 600 kilos event, and finished in third place in both the 640 kilos and 680 kilos event. The competition was officiated by Roger Beardsmore, and the event organisers expressed their gratitude to all of those who tokk part. They hope to have a few more teams taking part at the event when it is organised in 2012. Photo: Hanging Bridge competing against Stretton
Stretton YFC Tug of War competing at Congleton Carnival. Stretton are the current Cheshire county young farmers tug of war champions.
NATIONAL OUTDOOR TUG OF WAR CHAMPIONSHIPS PHOTOS
Photos taken at the national outdoor championships on Saturday 19th June are now available via our press and media page. You can view these photos by clicking here. These photos are also available via our facebook page.
TUG OF WAR MEMORIES
The Tug of War Association was founded in 1958 and took over the organisation of national tug of war competitions from the Amateur Athletic Association (AAAs). We have heard of many success stories over the past 50 years of the TOWA, but we know little about competitions that took place prior to 1958, and the success stories that teams experienced before then.
Donald Kelly has contacted the Tug of War Association after doing some research about his father, Dan Kelly who remembers taking part in tug of war competitions in the 1940’s at the White City Stadium. Donald tells the story of his father below:
“My father was born in Headford, near Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland on 9th December 1919, the fourth of fourteen children of Con and Nora Kelly. In his youth he was an outstanding gaelic footballer for local clubs Glenflesk and Kilgarven and represented Kerry at Minor level. With his eldest brother, Jerry, he regularly participated in Tug of War locally and with some success. He had just been selected to play a gaelic football trial for Kerry Juniors (in those days a vital step towards Kerry Senior selection), when he emigrated, with Jerry, to England in 1943. There he drove large trucks carrying the materials to keep the runways maintained at various RAF aerodromes in Eastern England and as the War ended he was driving for George Wimpey and was based at Heathrow, as the airport there was being developed. He was playing gaelic football regularly, competing in the London GAA League for the Wolfe Tones (he still has his “B” London League Winners Medal for 1946). One morning, soon after moving to Heathrow, one of the Wimpey surveyors, A B Smith, asked him, and some other new arrivals at Heathrow, to participate in a trial at Wimpey’s Tug of War “training facility”. This comprised some scaffolding especially erected on a piece of land with ropes and pulleys attached to various sizes of barrels filled with concrete. A number of men appropriate to the size of barrel selected were required to pull the relevant rope lifting the barrel into the air and then on shouted orders to move the barrel up or down or just hold it in position, all as ordered. After Dad’s trial Mr Smith noted that he clearly was an experienced TOW man and he was asked to join Wimpey’s TOW teams that regularly competed in TOW competitions around the South of England”.
The 1947 Wimpey Tug of War Team
“My father pulled for Wimpey in 1946 and 1947 before work opportunities caused him to move out to Essex early in 1948. He recalls pulling in both Wimpey catchweight and restricted weight teams and competing in both years at the White City, where the AAA Championships (including tug of war) were held at that time. He is certain that his Wimpey team won at least one “National” (ie AAA) Championship at the White City, although he can no longer find his TOW medals. He believes they beat the RUC team in a final and that the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) were the reigning champions at the time. A study of the records reveals that the RUC, having won both in 1939, were the reigning AAA Champions coming into the 1946 AAA Championships at both Catchweight and 100 Stone, where they lost both. Wimpey won the 1946 Catchweight AAA Championship but not the 100 Stone. On the other hand Wimpey won the AAA Championships at both Catchweight and 100 Stone in 1947 (a double Wimpey repeated in 1948 and 1949). The records do not reveal runners-up. Absent other information, it is tempting to believe that Dad was a member of the Wimpey team that won the 1946 Catchweight AAA Championship and merely to ponder whether he also shared in Wimpey’s 1947 successes. But Dad has unearthed a fascinating piece of evidence. The above photograph of the Wimpey TOW team was taken in 1947 (the date is handwritten on the back). Dad is standing on the furthest right hand side of the photo. As the smallest and lightest (5ft 8in and 11.5 Stone) he took up the most forward position on the rope. The photograph shows a very impressive haul of trophies won in 1947 (I think you can make out 19 Cups and 2 Shields). Alan Knott of the TOWA has confirmed that the trophies photographed include the AAA Catchweight rosebowl (third trophy from left on the lowest bench) and the AAA 640 kilos (formerly 100 Stone) Cup (on the far right of the lowest bench), both of which are still competed for today, and both of which were won by Wimpey in 1947”.
“So, did my father and his Wimpey teammates in the photograph win both AAA TOW Championships in 1947 ? Dad doubts it. Studying the team in the photograph, he thinks it more likely that this was the sussessful 100 Stone AAA Champions of 1947, and that Wimpey had arranged for photographs of both their successful teams of 1947 to be taken standing behind all the trophies either Wimpey team had won during 1947. But, of course, he is not sure. As he can not be sure that he was in the Wimpey Catchweight team that took the AAA title from the RUC in 1946. And probably we will never know now. Asked to name his teammates in the photograph Dad says “ We were all Irish. Most were Mayo or Galway men. But the lad furthest to the left was another Kerry- man. I can’t remember any of their names.”. He is just pleased that my research supports the likelihood that he was indeed a TOW AAA Champion in his day, and maybe more than once”.
“In the 1950’s and early 1960’s Dad was well known in the Essex District of Debden, Loughton and Buckhurst Hill as an accomplished darts player, winning many league and cup titles, including the individual championships (he still has many darts cups and medals). My father was 90 last December and is still a fit powerful man for his age. The second photograph (left) was taken at his 90th Birthday lunch and shows him with two of his three adored grandaughters”.
The Tug of War Association would like to take this opportunity to thank Dan Kelly and his son Donald for his story, on what is a very interesting part of tug of war history.
NATIONAL OUTDOOR TUG OF WAR CHAMPIONSHIPS - SATURDAY 19TH JUNE
This years outdoor national tug of war championships were held in Warslow in the Peak District, and were hosted with the assistance of Sheen TOWC and Manifold County Primary School.
The teams competing on the day were: Sheen, Holland, Norton, Wood Treatment Bosley, Hanging Bridge, Leek, Lincoln, Felton Eccles, Sandhurst, Oxney Vines Cross, Forge Lane, BAC, Tavistock, Widecombe, Team Army, 17 Port and Maritime Regiment in the mens weight classes. Bedford, Sheen and Leek took part in the ladies weight classes, and Sandhurst, Gloucester and Somerset ACF and Leicester and Northants ACF took part in the junior weight classes. Photo: Leek Ladies in the 540 kilos event
The day started with the catchweight event, although this year, there was only two teams taking part due to the lack of heavy teams around on the circuit this year. Those two clubs were Sheen and Holland, both from Staffordshire. Sheen performed strongly despite a huge effort from Holland to take the catchweight title by 2 ends to 0. Photo: Widecombe competing in the 640 kilos event
The ladies 540 kilos took place next with Sheen Ladies and Bedford Ladies having a good three end pull first on. Sheen took the first end, but Bedford took the second end to level the pull, before taking the third end to move ahead in the competition. Both Sheen and Bedford Ladies defeated Leek Ladies by 2 ends to 0, to ensure that Bedford finished with the gold medal and Sheen Ladies came away with the silver. Photo - Sandhurst youth competing in the junior 530 kilos event
The second mens weight was the 640 kilos event, which was pulled as a straight points competition. Felton started the defence of their title with a hard fought 2 ends to 0 win over Lincoln, whilst Bosley earned a hard fought 2 ends to 1 win over Sheen. Both teams then went on to lose their next pull, but started to pick up points again elsewhere. Oxney and Hanging Bridge were in contention of medals half way through the competition, but then started to fade away, leaving Felton, Lincoln, and Bosley in contention. Bosley defeated Lincoln by 2 ends to 1 to move within a point of them in second and third place, which meant that Bosley had to take two ends off Felton to take the silver. Felton had already earned enough points to secure gold, but Bosley gave them a real fight, but Felton had just enough to take the two ends to secure the gold medal without losing an end, with Lincoln taking the silver, and Bosley the bronze. Photo: Felton Eccles in the 640 kilos event
The first junior weight class of the day was the junior 530 kilos competition. Sandhurst started off by defeating Leicester and Northants ACF by 2 ends to 0, and Leicester and Northants went on to defeat Gloucester and Somerset ACF by 2 ends to 0. Sandhurst then beat Gloucester and Somerset to secure the gold medal, with Leicester and Northants taking silver. Photo: Norton in the 580 kilos event
The 580 kilos competition saw a large entry of teams and the competition was split into two groups. Norton and Forge Lane progressed from Group 1 ahead of Felton, Bosley, BAC, and Widecombe, with Sandhurst and Oxney progressing ahead of Team Army, Hanging Bridge, Tavistock, Hanging Bridge, Leek, and 17 Port and Maritime Regiment. In the cross over, Norton defeated Oxney by 2 ends to 0, and Sandhurst defeated Forge Lane. That left the two teams from Sussex to battle it out for the bronze medal, with Oxney taking the bronze medal against Forge Lane, who have made massive improvements over the past couple of seasons. The final was between Norton and Sandhurst, and was a repeat line up of the 560 kilos finals we have had for the past few seasons. Norton have had a strong and consistent season so far, and nothing was going to stop them again on this occasion as they defeated a spirited Sandhurst team by 2 ends to 0 to become the first team to take the new national 580 kilos title. Photo - Sandhurst in the 580 kilos event
The next mens weight was the 700 kilos weight class. Four teams entered this weight class – Sheen, Felton, Holland, and Leek. Sheen started off against Holland in their first pull, with Holland throwing everything at Sheen, before Sheen took the pull by 2 ends to 0. Holland and Leek then had a good pull second on which went very close before Holland took that pull by 2 ends to 0. Felton and Sheen meanwhile had another excellent battle, with Felton really having to hand on to Sheen on the first end before eventually pulling them over the line. Felton then took the second end, and went on to defeat Holland by 2 ends to 0 to take the gold medal, with Sheen taking silver and Holland the bronze. Photo: Holland in the 700 kilos event
The ladies 500 kilos weight class was a lively contest. Bedford defeated Sheen by 2 ends to 0 first on, but the best pull of the competition came second on between Leek and Sheen. Leek took a hard fought first end, before Sheen had to battle really hard to level the pull. The third end was equally as exciting, but Sheen had enough left in the tank to bring Leek over the line. Bedford secured the gold medal with a 2 ends to 0 win over Leek, with Sheen finishing as silver medallists. Photo - Bedford Ladies in the 500 kilos event
The 600 kilos event then saw another large entry of teams, and the competition was split into two groups. Bosley were the winners of group 1 ahead of Oxney, Felton Eccles, Hanging Bridge, Forge Lane, Team Army and Tavistock, with Norton finishing as winners of group 2 head of Sandhurst, Lincoln, Leek, 17 Port and Maritime Regiment, Widecombe, and BAC. Norton went on to again defeat Oxney in a semi final, whilst Bosley took a hard earned semi final win against Sandhurst to make the final. Oxney pulled strongly in the bronze medal pull to defeat Sandhurst by 2 ends to 0, and Norton gave another strong performance in the final, to win their second gold medal of the day by beating Bosley by 2 ends to 0. Photo: Sheen Ladies in the 500 kilos event
The junior 560 kilos event, again saw Sandhurst, Gloucester and Somerset ACF, and Leicester and Northants ACF fighting it out for the medals. Sandhurst won the competition without losing an end to take a well deserved gold medal, with Gloucester and Somerset taking a good silver medal, by beating the 2009 winners Leicester and Northants ACF by 2 ends to 0. Well done to all of the youth teams who took part. Photo - Leek in the 700 kilos event
The final weight of the day was the 680 kilos weight class. This weight is always usually wide open as the last weight of the day, with most teams having competed in many other weight classes. The competition was split into two groups. Felton edged through as winners of group 1, despite a very hard battle against Holland in this weight who went through in second place ahead of Hanging Bridge, Tavistock, Sandhurst and Team Army. Sheen progressed as winners of group 2 ahead of Norton who finished as group runners up, Lincoln, Bosley, Widecombe, and Oxney. Sheen defeated Holland in their semi final, and Norton came away with a good 2 ends to 0 win over Felton Eccles. Felton Eccles then went on to secure the bronze medal against Holland, whilst Sheen beat an underweight Norton team in the final by 2 ends to 0 to take their second gold medal of the day. Photo: LNR ACF in the Junior 560 kilos
At the end of the day, the gold silver and bronze medals were presented to the teams by TOWA president Tony Martin. The Tug of War Association would like to thank Sheen TOWC and Manifold County Primary School for providing the venue and hosting the event on our behalf. We would also like to thank all of the teams for coming along to the event as well as thanking all of the local people who turned out in force to support the teams. Photo: Gloucester and Somerset ACF in the Junior 560 kilos
We would also like to thank the officials for attending the event. As with the teams, without them, we would not be able to have a championship. They were: Peter Craft (Controller), Nick Major (Chief Judge), George Ferrett (Referee), Betty Craft (Chief Recorder), Wendy Dyer (recorder), Yvonne Ludkin (recorder), Roger Beardsmore, Matt Cowlard, Ernie Jones, Vic Ludkin, Adrian Willis, Ray Fray-Smith, Mike Callaghan, Mick Grimston, Julie Petit and Pete Dyer (Chief Marshall). We would also like to thank Alan Ludkin for providing the commentary on the days events. Photo - Bosley in the 600 kilos event
BAC competing in the 600 kilos event
Team Army competing in the 600 kilos event
Lincoln competing in the 680 kilos event
Sheen competing in the 680 kilos event
Full Results:
Men Catchweight - gold - Sheen (Staffs) - Silver - Holland - (Staffs)
Men 640 kilos - gold - Felton (Somerset) - Silver - Lincoln - Bronze - Bosley (Cheshire)
Teams competing - Men – Hailsham, Southminister, Oxney Vines Cross, Sandhurst (A and B), BAC, Forge Lane, Felton Eccles (A and B), Sheen, Norton, Bosley, Lincoln, Gloucester and Somerset ACF, Team Army, 17 Port and Maritime Regiment.
Ladies and Youth – Bedford, Gloucester and Somerset ACF, City of London ACF (A and B), Sandhurst.
The annual open competition at Sandhurst was another well supported event, with some very competitive pulling on the day. The forecast rain showers and thunderstorms held off, and despite the ground being very hard at the start of the day, it soon broke up after the first couple of weights, resulting in some very hard pulling.
The catchweight event was run as a straight group, with Sheen performing very strongly to overcome all teams without losing an end. Felton Eccles finished as worth runners up, with some notable performances from Southminster.
The 580 kilos event was split into two groups, with the lighter weight classes seeing large entries in recent weeks, the competition was again very close. Norton put in another fine performance in this weight to finish top of their group ahead of Bosley, Sandhurst, Lincoln, Hailsham, and Felton Eccles A, with Oxney coming through as winners of their group ahead of Felton Eccles B, Forge Lane (after a close 2 ends to 1 pull), Gloucester and Somerset ACF, and Team Army. Norton went into the final to record a good 2 ends to 0 win over Oxney. Photo: Sheen in the 680 kilos
The 680 kilos was again split into two groups. Sheen continued their strong performance in the catchweight event to edge out Lincoln to finish top of their group to go on to meet Felton Eccles in the final. Now that the ground had cut up, Felton had the opportunity to get behind the holes in the ground to try and stop Sheen’s power. Felton managed to do this to take a well deserved win in this weight. Photo: Felton Eccles competing with Sheen in the final of the 680 kilos event
The 600 kilos competition was by far the most keenly fought weight class on the day. The competition was split into two groups, with a good spread of teams across the draw. The first group saw Sandhurst come through as winners, to come through on top after a tough three end win over Oxney, however there was even more excitement in the second group, with close pulls between Sheen, Bosley, Forge Lane and Lincoln. Bosley defeated Sheen by 2 ends to 0 in a very hard pull, but were then defeated by Forge Lane by the same score. Sheen then came through to defeat Forge Lane by 2 ends to 0, but Bosley’s loss against Lincoln meant that Forge Lane and Sheen would have to pull again to see who would go through to the final. This was another great pull, with Forge Lane just edging it by 2 ends to 1. Forge Lane then went on to meet Sandhurst in the final. Both teams had had tough pulling in the group, but those extra ends for Forge Lane took a lot out of them, and it was Sandhurst who came through as worthy winners by 2 ends to 0. Photo: Forge Lane competing in the 600 kilos event.
The final weight of the day was the 640 kilos weight class. This was again split into two groups. Norton comfortably won their group, with Lincoln coming through to win their group with a good win over Oxney in their last pull in the group to make the final. Norton then went on to win the final by 2 ends to 0.
30/05/2010 - WESSEX OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
This bank holiday weekend saw the Wessex Open Championships take place at Christian Malford near Chippenham in Wiltshire. The event was reasonably well supported with Felton Eccles (A and B), Sandhurst (A and B), Oxney Vines Cross, Lincoln, BAC, Widecombe, Whimple and Broadclyst, Norton, Wood Treatment Bosley, and the re-formed North Wiltshire tug of war clubs taking part. The weather remained dry, so the conditions were good for tug of war.
The event started with the 700 kilos event, which was pulled as a straight group. Felton Eccles performed strongly in this weight to win the competition without losing an end, followed by Lincoln who finished as runners up after a hard fought 2 ends to 1 win over Oxney first on. North Wiltshire started with a good performance to finish fourth overall in this weight. Photo - Oxney Vines Cross
The 580 kilos event followed, and this was again pulled as a straight group. Oxney and BAC had a good pull first on, and competition between Oxney, Sandhurst and Bosley was close to determine who would finish in first place. Oxney firstly defeated Sandhurst by 2 ends to 0, then Bosley followed suit to beat Sandhurst by 2 ends to 0. The final and deciding pull was between Bosley and Oxney, with Bosley coming away with a hard fought 2 ends to 0 win over Oxney. Photo - North Wiltshire TOWC
The 680 kilos event was split into two groups. Oxney were the winners of group 1 ahead of Widecombe, Whimple and Broadclyst, and North Wiltshire, whilst Felton Eccles came through as winners of group 2 ahead of Lincoln, Bosley, Sandhurst A and Felton B. In the final of this weight, Oxney and Felton Eccles fought it out. Oxney gave a good battling performance, but Felton Eccles maintained their composure to work their way to a well deserved 2 ends to 0 win. Photo - Whimple and Broadclyst TOWC
The 600 kilos event was also split into two groups. Norton came through as winners of their group ahead of Felton Eccles A, Sandhurst A, Lincoln, and Sandhurst B. Oxney came through as winnes of group 2 after a hard earned 2 ends to 1 win over Bosley to beat them into first place, with Whimple and Broadclyst, North Wiltshire and BAC also competing in the group. Norton again pulled strongly, maintaining their postitions throught their rope to pressure Oxney out for a 2 ends to 0 win.
The final weight of the day was the 640 kilos event. Norton were again the dominant force in this competition, winning the whole competition without losing an end. Bosley finished as runners up after being defeated by Norton in two straight ends.
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010
This is a reminder to all member clubs of the Tug of War Asssociation that they should return their entry forms for the National Outdoor Tug of War Championships as soon as possible to the championships secretary, Steve Roach. Anyone requiring further information about the national championships, and anyone wishing to enter a team in the event can contact the Championships Secretary (Steve Roach) as follows:
Postal Address (this is also where entry forms should be posted to, along with entry fees):72 Meadow Park, Bathford, Bath, BA1 7PY.
Further information about the 2010 National Outdoor Championships is also available on the National Championships page. The national outdoor championships take place on Saturday 19th June 2010 at Manifold County Primary School, Warslow, Near Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 0JR.
NATIONAL LEAGUE 2010
The national league for 2010 has now reached the half way stage after four league events. The points accumulated by the 22 teams who have taken part so far are on the National League 2010 page. There are many teams still in contention for gold, silver and bronze medals at this stage of the season. Although those teams who finsish outside of the medals at the end of the season will have the opportunity to take part in the national league, non-finalist plat competition at the National League Finals, which will be held in Daventry in September.
23/05/2010 - FELTON ECCLES OPEN COMPETITION - NATIONAL LEAGUE WEEK 4 RESULTS
Hot and sunny weather greeted the teams this year at Felton Eccles' annual open tug of war competition. The event was well supported with Felton Eccles (A and B), Kennford, Gloucester & Somerset, 17 Port and Maritime Regiment, Sandhurst (A and B), Lincoln, Widecombe, Oxney, BAC, Sheen, Tavistock, Norton, Forge Lane, and Wood Treatment Bosley all taking part.
The day started with the 600 kilos event, which was pulled in two groups. Norton were the winners of group A, ahead of Oxney who finished as runners up, and Lincoln won group B with Felton Eccles finishing as group runners up. There was also some very close competition between the other teams in this weight class. Their were many notable performances from Tavistock, Widecombe, Gloucester and Somerset, Kennford, and 17 Port and Maritime Regiment who had to endure many three end pulls. The final was between Norton, and Lincoln, and it was a good performance by Norton who won strongly by 2 ends to 0 to win the 600 kilos event for their fourth successive week. Photo: Widecombe in the 600 kilos event
petiThe 680 kilos was the second weight of the day, and was again split into two large groups. Norton were the winners of group 1, beating Bosley into first place to make the final, with Felton Eccles winning the second group ahead of Forge Lane. The final was a good battle between Norton and Felton Eccles, with the first end running very close, with Norton having to battle very hard to take Felton over the line. Norton asserted a little more control on the second end to contain the early surge from Felton, and went on to take a hard fought two ends to nil win against Felton, which was applauded by all around the field. Photo: Host club Felton Eccles competing in the 600 kilos event.
The 580 kilos event followed, which was split into two groups. Forge Lane pulled very strongly in their group to make the final ahead of Oxney Vines Cross, with both teams having a good tussle to see who would come out of the group to make the final. Bosley were the winners of group two, which was another competitive group, finishing ahead of Tavistock and Felton who were also both in contention to reach the final. In the final, Forge Lane had the upper hand from the drop on both ends to take a well earned win in the 580 kilos weight class. Photo: BAC competing in the 600 kilos event
The 640 kilos event followed, again split into two groups. At this stage of the day, given the very warm weather, and hard pulling already endured, some teams started to fatigue, but it did not stop Norton from progressing to their third final of the day ahead of Oxney, Sheen, Bosley, Kennford, Widecombe, and Sandhurst B, where they met Sandhurst A in the final, who overcame Lincoln in a good three end pull, BAC, Felton A, Tavistock, and Felton B. Norton again dominated the proceedings against Sandhurst in the final, by going on to win by 2 ends to 0, although Sanhurst will be pleased with their efforts having come through some hard pulling in the group with two youth pullers in their team. Photo: Tavistock competing in the 600 kilos event
The final weight of the day was the catchweight event. There was a smaller entry of teams in this weight so it was pulled as a straight group. Sheen and Felton had to battle it out first on, with Sheen going on to win by 2 ends to 0. Sheen went on to win the competition, with Felton finishing as runners up. Photo: Kennford, who have recently reformed, taking the strain in the 600 kilos event.
The event was also attended by Peter Baker, who provided good and informative commentary on the event throughout the day, which was appreciated by the crowds that attended the event. Peter Baker is a long standing and respected member of the Tug of War Association, and has served as a past TOWA chairman and president. Peter has also served on the TWIF executive committee in the past. In recognition of this, current TWIF senior vice president and TOWA President Tony Martin presented Peter with a commemorative award from TWIF which is being presented to long standing past and present members of TWIF to commemorate their 50th anniversary. The Tug of War Association would like to congratulate Peter Baker on receiving his award.
16/05/2010 - MIDLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS - NATIONAL LEAGUE WEEK 3 RESULTS
The 2010 Midland Championships this year were held at Madeley Court Leisure Centre, Telford, the first time for a few years that tug of war has been held here. The last competition to take place here was on the indoor circuit in 2002. The teams competing were Norton, Sheen, Sandhurst, Lincoln, Hanging Bridge, Rushock, Caradoc, Haye-on-Wye, and Felton Eccles, with LNR ACF A and B and Sheen Ladies competing in the ladies and youth weights.
The 2010 Midland Championships started with the mens catchweight event, run as a single group points competition. The event included a few young farmers teams, who acquitted themselves well to the competition, despite being up against more experienced clubs. The competition between most clubs was close, but not as close as the deciding pull between Felton and Sheen which went to three ends. Felton took the first end, but Sheen took the second in with a hard battled win. The third end was equally as close, and just as Felton looked to be getting themselves back into the pull, Sheen managed to moved Felton over the line to win the pull and the catchweight competition.
The second weight of the day was the 580 kilos competition, again run as a straigh points competition. The pulling was again tight, with Bosley and Hanging Bridge having a three end match firs on with Bosley beating Hanging Bridge by 2 ends to 1. There were many other close pulls, but it was Sandhurst who won the competition without losing an end, with Bosley finishing as runners up.
The 680 kilos competition was split into two groups. Norton were the winners of group 1 ahead of Bosley, Sandhurst, Hanging Bridge and Haye-on-Wye, With Felton Eccles finishing ahead of Lincoln, Sheen and Rushock in their group. Norton went into the final with a light team, but pulled a good tight rope throughout to hold off the challenge from Felton to win the competition by 2 ends to 0.
The 600 kilos event followed, and again was pulled as a straight group. Norton were again very strong and won the competition without losing an end. Bosley finished as worthy runners up, but there was some good pulling between all of the other teams - Haye-on-Wye, Hanging Bridge, Sheen, Lincoln, and Caradoc, with many of those pulls going to three ends.
The final mens weight of the day was the 640 kilos which was split into two groups. Norton were the winners of group 1 ahead of Lincoln, Felton Eccles, and Sheen, with Bosley winning group 2 ahead of Hanging Bridge, Haye-on-Wye, Caradoc, and Rushock. Norton and Bosley met again for the third time in a deciding pull in the final, and despite a battling effort, Norton came through as winners once again to take their third win of the day.
The ladies and youth weights were contested by Sheen Ladies and two teams from Leicester and Northants ACF. The Leicester and Northants ACF teams pulled well this week fielding mixed teams of junior boys and girls. Their A team finished as winners of both the 520 kilos and 560 kilos events, with Sheen Ladies finishing as runners up.
NATIONAL OUTDOOR TUG OF WAR CHAMPIONSHIPS - JUNE 19 2010
This is a reminder to all tug of war clubs, that they must have all of their pullers registered with the Tug of War Association by Wednesday 19th May to be eligible to compete at the 2010 national outdoor championships. Teams who have yet to register their pullers should do so as soon as possible by contacting Peter Craft (TOWA Secretary). E-mail peter@tugofwar.org.uk. Tel: 01494 783057.
Teams wishing to compete at the national championships should contact the championships secretary, Steve Roach for further details and assistance. E-mail: fitters@tiscali.co.uk. Tel: 01225 859302. Entry forms should be completed and returned as soon as possible.
All teams wishing to take part should be paid up members of the Tug of War Association, and all individual pullers should be registered as above by 19th May.
The national championships are taking place at: Manifold County Primary School, Warslow, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 0JR. Further details are available on the national championships page.
KESSINGLAND TUG OF WAR WEEKEND - OCTOBER 2010
This is a notice to all teams and pullers who wish to take part in this event. We have been advised by Park Resorts that the accommodation is booking up fast, so thos wishing to take part in this competition should book their accommodation sooner, rather than later, Details regarding this event are available on the fixtures page.
09/05/2010 - GREAT ORMOND STREET CHARITY EVENT
This weekend, the annual charity tug of war competition organised by Len Hall took place at Daventry and District Sports Club, with a good number of senior and junior tug of war teams taking part.
The men's competition saw the following teams taking part - Colchester, Market Rasen, Lincoln, Soutminster, Team Army, 17 Port and Maritime Regiment, Forge Lane, BAC, Hanging Bridge, Sandhurst (A and B), Oxney Vines Cross, Wood Treatment Bosley, Norton, and Felton Eccles.
There was again a well supported ladies and youth competition, with Leicester and Northants ACF (A, B and C), Glouscester and Somerset ACF (A and B), Sandhurst Youth, and Bedford all taking part. This competition also welcomed the Eire OG team from Ireland, who have become regular visitors to Daventry over the years. Photo: Leciester and Northants ACF Youth.
The competition opened with the catchweight event, pulled as a straight group. Felton Eccles ended up as winners without dropping an end, and Lincoln finished as runners up ahead of Sandhurst, Market Rasen, and Southminster.
The mens 600 kilos competition followed the catchweight competition, and was split into two groups. Norton won the competition without losing an end, finishing ahead of Hanging Bridge in their group to go on and defeat Sandhurst A in the final.
The 680 kilos was another good competition, split into two groups. The teams from Southminster, Colchester, and Market Rasen gave some excellent battling performances in this weight, but Norton went through to the final as winners of group 1, with Felton Eccles also coming out of a tough group to reach the final. Norton put on a strong performance in the final for a hard earned win by 2 ends to 0. Photo: Cornwall ACF Youth
The 580 kilos competition was another interesting weight class, with Hanging Bridge coming through as winners of their group ahead of Sandhurst A, Bosley, Lincoln, Oxney and 17 Port and Maritime Regiment. Forge Lane came through as worthy winners of group 2 by defeating Felton Eccles, BAC, Sandhurst B, and Team Army. Forge Lane put up a good fight against Hanging Bridge in the final, but Hanging Bridge just edged out Forge Lane to finish in first place. Photo: Forge Lane
The final mens weight of the day was the 640 kilos weight class, split into two groups. Group 1 was won by Norton, who defeated Sandhurst A, Felton Eccles, Oxney, Team Army, and Forge Lane. Group 2 was won by Hanging Bridge, who came through a competitive group ahead of Bosley, BAC, Lincoln, Sandhurst B, and Colchester. The pulling in this group was particularly good, with Colchester defeating Sandhurst B and BAC, and also taking an end out of Bosley. The final saw Norton face Hanging Bridge, who threw everything at Norton, but Norton held off the challenge to take their third win of the day. Photo: 17 Port and Maritime Regiment
The ladies and youth weights were contested at 560 kilos and 520 kilos. The 560 kilos was the first weight, which provided some good exciting pulls. The ground was a little bit greasy on top at the start, resulting in a couple of endy pulls to start with. Gloucester and Somerset had a good pull with the Eire OG team first on, narrowly being defeated by 2 ends to 1, before Sandhurst youth went on to win by 2 ends to 1 against the Eire OG team. Sandhurst went on to win this weight without losing an end. Leicester and Northants ACF fielded three teams in this weight, fielding teams with a mix of both junior boys and girls pullers. Cornwall ACF also competed well, along with Bedford Ladies who had no other ladies teams to pull on the day. Photo: Hanging Bridge
The 520 kilos competition was later won by Sandhurst Youth, with Eire OG finsishing as worthy runners up ahead of Gloucester and Somerset ACF A. Photo: Colchester YFC
03/05/2010 - NORTH SOMERSET SHOW RESULTS
On Bank Holiday Monday, the annual tug of war competition took place at North Somerset Show. The weather was dry, and the competition took place in front of a large and appreciative crowd. The teams taking part were Tavistock, Felton Eccles, Cupids Hill, North Wilts, Widdecombe, Kennford and Wedmore Young Farmers. The results were:
Men 600 - Winners - Tavistock - Runners Up - Felton Eccles
Men 640 - Winners - Tavistock - Runners Up - Cupids Hill
Men 680 - Winners - Cupids Hill - Runners Up - Tavistock
02/05/2010 - LINCOLN TOWC OPEN COMPETITION RESULTS
Teams competing - Senior Men - Lincoln, Market Rasen, Southminster, Norton, Sheen, Felton Eccles (A and B), Wood Treatment Bosley, Hanging Bridge.
Ladies - Bedford and Sheen
Results
Men Catchweight - Winners - Sheen - Runners Up - Felton Eccles A
Men 640 Kilos - Winners - Norton - Runners Up - Lincoln
Men 600 kilos - Winners - Norton - Runners Up - Bosley
Men 680 kilos - Winners - Norton - Runners Up - Sheen
01/05/2010 - SHEEN LADIES OPEN COMPETITION RESULTS
Teams competing - Sheen Ladies, Sheen Men, Ashbourne YFC, Holland TOWC, Lutterworth YFC
Results
Men Catchweight - Winners - Sheen - Runners Up - Holland
Men 680 - Winners - Sheen - Runners Up - Holland
Men 640 - Winners - Sheen - Runners Up - Lutterworth
25/04/2010 - THAMES VALLEY OPEN COMPETITION RESULTS
580- Winners - Sandhurst - Runners Up - BAC
600- Winners - Sandhurst - Runners Up - Oxney
640- Winners - Sandhurst - Runners Up - Felton Eccles
680- Winners - Lincoln - Runners Up - Felton Eccles
Catchweight - Winners - Felton Eccles - Runners Up - Lincoln
18/04/2010 - EAST OF ENGLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS - NATIONAL LEAGUE 1
This week was the first competition of the Tug of War Association National League, which took place in Kempston, Bedford. The event was well supported with senior mens teams from Southminster, Triple F, Sheen, Norton, Felton Eccles, Sandhurst (A and B), Lincoln, Oxney Vines Cross, Wood Treatment Bosley, Gloucester and Somerset ACF, BAC, Hanging Bridge taking part. The ladies and youth competition also saw seven teams competing from Bedford, Sheen, Leicester and Northants ACF (A, B and C), Gloucester and Somerset ACF (A and B). The dry weather conditions meant that the ground was hard, and this factor, combined with the warm weather made the competition in all weight classes very competitive. Photo: Sheen Ladies in the Ladies and Youth 560 kilos
PhThe day started with the catchweight event, split into two groups. Norton won group one ahead of Felton Eccles, Bosley and Southminster, with Lincoln finishing as worthy winners of group two, finishing ahead of Sheen, Sandhurst A, Hanging Bridge, and Oxney Vines Cross. Lincoln and Norton met in the final as winners of their respective groups to decide who would finish first and second. Norton pulled strongly to take a 2 ends to 0 win over Lincoln. Photo: Bedford in the ladies and youth 560 kilos
Along with the mens catchweight competition, the ladies and youth 560 kilos competition took place. There was some very close competition in this weight class, but it was Bedford who kept the best shape all day to win the competition without losing an end. Sheen finished as worthy runners up.
The second weight of the day was the 600 kilos event, which was a good competitive weight class split into two groups. Sheen were the surprise package in this weight, winning their group ahead of Triple F, Felton Eccles, Bosley and Sandhurst B. BAC came through as winners of the second group ahead of Sandhurst A, Oxney Vines Cross, and Hanging Bridge, with whom BAC finished level on points. BAC and Hanging Bridge then had to pull again to decide who would go through to the final, and it was BAC who won through to meet Sheen. The extra pulling took its toll on BAC, and it was Sheen who came through to win the final by 2 ends to 0. Photo: Southminster in the catchweight event.
The 680 kilos was another points competition split into two groups. Norton were the winners of group one ahead of Oxney Vines Cross, Lincoln, Hanging Bridge and Sandhurst A. Felton Eccles won group two ahead of Bosley, Triple F, Sandhurst B and Sheen. Norton and Felton Eccles met in the final, with Felton giving an aggressive performance against Norton. Despite all their efforts, Norton kept their composure on both ends to take the win by 2 ends to 0. Photo: Felton Eccles in the catchweight event.
Alongside the mens 680 kilos competition, the ladies and youth 520 kilos competition took place. Like the Ladies 560 kilos competition earlier, the competition was again very very close, with some close pulling between all the teams. Bedford again were worthy winners, with Gloucester and Somerset ACF A finishing as runners up. Photo: Gloucester and Somerset ACF "A" team in the ladies and youth 560 kilos event.
The final weight of the day was the 640 kilos. This was again a points competition, split into two groups. Norton again pulled strongly to win their group ahead of Hanging Bridge, Bosley, Felton Eccles and Gloucester and Somerset ACF. Sandhurst A were the winners of group two ahead of Lincoln, BAC, Sandhurst B and Triple F. Norton were again a strong team in the 640, and went on to win the final by 2 ends to 0. Photo: Lincoln in the catchweight event
The competition in Weymouth was supported this year with 6 teams taking part. They were Widecombe, Tavistock, Wareham, Lympstone, Kennford and Blandford. The judges were Nick Major and Mick Selwood. The results were:
Catchweight - Winners - Tavistock - Runners Up - Blandford
680 - Winners - Tavistock - Runners Up - Widecombe
660 - Winners - Tavistock - Runners Up - Widecombe
640 - Winners - Tavistock - Runners Up - Widecombe
600 - Winners - Tavistock - Runners Up - Kennford
11/04/2010 - WOOD TREATMENT BOSLEY OPEN COMPETITION
The competition this weekend was hosted by Wood Treatment Bosley Tug of War Club in the village of Bosley, Cheshire. The competition was attended by teams from Wood Treatment Bosley, Sheen, Norton, Hanging Bridge, Lincoln, Felton Eccles, and Sandhurst (A and B). Five weight classes were contested on the day, and there was a good mixture of results.
The competitions held on the day were all run as points competitions so all the teams got plenty of pulling. The ground cut up well, which made for good competitive pulling. The day started with the catchweight event, with Felton Eccles taking first place in this weight class, which they normally dominate at this time of year. Sheen took the runners up spot in their first outing since winning the gold medal at World Indoor Championships in February. Photo: Wood Treatment Bosley in the 600 kilos event
Following the catchweight competition, the 640 kilos competition took place. This again was run as a full group. Norton have again come back at the start of the season with a good level of fitness and won the competition without losing an end. Hanging Bridge were the worthy runners up, just finishing ahead of Bosley who finished third. Photo: Sandhurst TOWC competing in the 620 kilos event
The 640 kilos competition was watched by Joyce Hollinshead and Sturat Hollinshead, the wife and son of former Bosley coach John Hollinshead, who passed away towards the end of last year. Also in attendance was former Bosley puller Mick Eardley. John was coach during the 1970’s and 1980’s winning over 100 championship gold medals with the club, including national, AAA, UK, European and World titles.
After the 640 kilos competition, a memorial shield in memory of John was presented by his family to the winners of the 640 kilos event, and this award was received by Norton from Stuart Hollinshead who presented the award on behalf of the family. All of the pullers and spectators who attended the event then gave three cheers in tribute to John. Photo: Sturat Hollinshead (right), son of former Wood Treatment Bosley Coach John Hollinshead presenting Dave Calcutt (left)of Norton TOWC (640 kilos winners) with the John Hollinshead Memorial Shield
Following this presentation, the 600 kilos, 680 kilos, and 620 kilos competitions took place. Sandhurst A were the worthy winners of the 600 kilos, with Bosley finishing as runners up after a hard fought victory over Hanging Bridge. Norton took their second weight of the day in the 680 kilos competition, with Felton Eccles finishing as runners up. Sandhurst A then took the 620 kilos event by beating Bosley by 2 ends to 1 in close fought final.
05/04/2010 - GUILDFORD EASTER SHOW 2010
The competition at the Guildford Easter Show in Surrey was held on Easter Monday. The recent wet weather had made the ground soft, but Monday remained dry and windy and the ground dried out as the day progressed. The surface was a bit slippery to start with, but as the ground broke up some decent holes soon developed, and the spectators were treated to some good pulling. The number of clubs taking part was down on last year, which is a shame because the Tug of War at this show is always popular with the spectators, and there were quite a few ‘old pullers’ in the crowd. Photo: BAC TOWC
The first weight was the Men’s 600 with BAC, Sandhurst A, Sandhurst B, Sandhurst Youth, Holland, Oxney A, Forge Lane and Bedford Ladies taking part in an eight team points competition. Sandhurst A won the weight, losing only one end to worthy runners up Forge Lane. Sandhurst Youth and Bedford Ladies took part in the Men’s 600 and, in accordance with the new rule, some of the men’s teams dropped pullers when they met these teams. Unfortunately one of the Bedford pullers sustained an injury near the end of this weight, and the team then withdrew from the competition. The injured puller was treated on the field by the St John Ambulance and we wish her a speedy recovery. Photo: Bedford Ladies TOWC
The second weight was the Men’s 640, which was a seven team points competition with BAC, Sandhurst A, Sandhurst B, Holland, Oxney A, Oxney B and Forge Lane taking part. Sandhurst A were winners with Oxney A runners up.
Only two teams weighed in for the Ladies/youth competition, which should have been held at the same time as the Men’s 640, but this was abandoned due to Bedford withdrawing.
The third and final weight was the Men’s 680, which only had four teams (Sandhurst A, Sandhurst B, Oxney A and Oxney B). This was won by Sandhurst A with Sandhurst B runners up.
The judges were Vic Ludkin, Ernie Jones, Ray Wells and Peter Tuckwell, and the timekeeper was Mrs Yvonne Ludkin. Thanks to Terry Spoore for supplying the ropes and gazebo and the Tug of War information display.
NOTICE TO ALL MEMBERS
As of January 1st 2011, all minutes of TOWA General Committee Meetings and any other newsletters from the Tug of War Association will be distributed by e-mail unless specifically requested. Those wishing to recieve newsletters and minutes from the TOWA by post should notify the secretary, Peter Craft in writing as soon as possible. All members and club secretaries should forward their e-mail address to the secretary as soon as possible.
Anyone wishing to join the Tug of War Association as an individual member, club member, or associate club member can do so by visiting the "how to join" page of this web site. Existing members are also reminded to renew their membership for 2010 if they have not already done so. This is particularly neccessary to those clubs who wish to participate at the national championships in June.
CHANGE IN WEIGHT CLASSES - WESSEX OPEN - SUNDAY 30TH MAY
Christian Malford, Wiltshire - Weigh In - 10am - First Pull - 11am -
Weights will now be - 580, 600, 640, 680, 700 kilos - Contact Mrs M Dymond for further details on 01249 720977
04/04/2010 - WILTSHIRE COUNTY OPEN RESULTS
Teams competing were: Sandhurst A & B, Felton A & B, Tavistock, Lympstone and North Wiltshire Tug of War Club who have re-formed this year. The results were:
600 - Winners - Felton A - Runners Up - Sandhurst A
640 - Winners - Sandhurst A - Runners Up - Tavistock
680 - Winners - Sandhurst A - Runners Up - Felton A
Catchweight - Winners - Felton A - Runners Up - Sandhurst A
MIDLAND EARLY PULL RESULTS
Sunday 28th March - Held in Droitwich, Worcestershire
Men Catchweight - Winners - Holland A - Winners - Holland B
Men 660 - Winners - Holland A - Winners - Holland B
Men 640 - Winners - Holland A - Winners - Holland B
Men 620 - Winners - Holland A - Winners - Holland B
Ladies and Youth 520 - Winners - Gloucester & Somerset ACF - Runners Up - LNR ACF A
Ladies and Youth 560 - Winners - Gloucester & Somerset ACF - Runners Up - LNR ACF A
The Dorset training league took place between 28th Feb and 28th March 2010
Four competitions have taken place over recent weeks in the South Western Area as part of the Dorset training league. A total of 13 teams took part in the event. They were Tavistock, Lympstone, Widecombe, Culm Valley, Kenford, 17 Port & Maritime Regiment, Whimple, North Wiltshire, Warbstow, Wareham, Probus, and 11 Signal Regiment. The event organisers would like to thank and congratulate all of those teams who took part. The officials were Mike Callaghan, Matt Cowlard, Nick Major, George Ferrett, and Mick Selwood. Jane Major was the timekeeper/recorder.
A national open 4+4 championships will be held in conjunction with the Inter-County Championships at Kempston in August. The weight class will be 600 kilos and teams shall consist of 4 men and 4 women. This weight class will be held following the completion of the 640 and 680 kilos event at the Inter County Championships. As it is the first year that the Tug of War Association will be running such an event, borrowing will be allowed for this weight class, and teams wishing to compete in this event this year shall be allowed to borrow up to four pullers for this year only. All teams are welcome to enter a team in this weight and compete.
CHANGES OF VENUE & OTHER COMPETITION INFO
Change of Venue - The Midland Championships, scheduled to take place on Sunday 16th May will now be taking place at Madeley Court Sports Centre, Court Street, Madeley, Telford, TF7 5DZ. All other details remain the same. Please contact Roger Beardsmore for further information on 01952 510735.
Confirmation of Venue - The venue for the Shropshire Championships, sheduled to take place on Sunday 22nd August has also been confirmed and will take place at Madeley Court Sports Centre, Court Street, Madeley, Telford, TF7 5DZ. Weights are Men 600, 640, 680 and Catchweight. Please contact Roger Beardsmore for further information on 01952 510735.
Change of Date - The East Cheshire Hospice charity competitionscheduled to take place on Sunday 25th July will take place on Sunday 1st August. All other details remain the same. Please contact Alan Knott for further details on 07976 591222
Change of Date - The Far Western Area Championships, scheduled to take place on Sunday 4th July, will now take place on Sunday 11th July. All other details remain the same. Please contact Nick Major for further details on 01364 652984 or 07931 756321.
Additional Venue - Saturday 1st May - Sheen Ladies TOWC - Manifold Inn, Manifold, Hartington, Derbyshire, SK17 0EX - Weights - Ladies - 540, 560, 580, Men - 640, 680, Catchweight. Contact Rachel Craft for further information on 01283 215633
Confirmation of Weights - Kessingland - Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th October - Saturday - Men 600, 640, 680, Mixed 4+4 600 - Sunday - Men 620, 660, 720, mixed 4+4 660
WORLD INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS - PHOTOS
Photos from the World Indoor Championships are available on our press & media page.
Photos are also available via our Facebook Page
28th FEB 2010 - WORLD INDOOR TUG OF WAR CHAMPIONSHIPS
The 2010 World Indoor Tug of War Championships took place in Cesenatico, Italy, the second time in succession where the world indoor championships have been hosted by the Italian Tug of War Federation.
World Open Club Championships
The first two days of the event were the open club competitions. There was little involvement by English clubs in this weight, although Raunds entered a team in the 640 kilos, and Kilroe entered a team in the 600 kilos. Neither team reached the semi finals, with both teams concentrating on representing England at the weekend. Abadino from the Basque region of Spain pulled very well to win the Open Competition at both 560 kilos and 600 kilos, with Bremore from Ireland winning the 640 kilos event, and Heidenskip from the Netherlands winning the 680 kilos event. Photo: Abadino in the Men 560
In the ladies open competition, the ladies teams from Chinese Taipei won both the ladies 500 kilos and ladies 540 kilos competitions. It was a different team to what we have seen dominate ladies indoor tug of war for the past 4 or 5 years, but this new team were technically just as good as their predecessors, and they won both finals against Basque team Badiotz. Photo - Chinese Taipei in the open 540 kilos
World Championships – Closed – Day 1
The closed competition started with the opening ceremony on the Friday evening, with pulling starting on Saturday with the mens 560 kilos competition. 10 countries fielded a team in this weight class, which turned out to be a very stern test for all teams taking part. England were represented by Norton in this weight, who progressed through the group finishing in first place, having lost one end to Scotland in the group. England progressed along with the Netherlands, Scotland, and 2008 winners Northern Ireland. With the quality of the teams in the last 4, the semi final draw would have a big impact on the final result. England were drawn against Scotland, with Northern Ireland apparently having the easier draw against the Netherlands. Northern Ireland progressed to the final, with a hard fought 2 ends to 1 win over the Netherlands, but all eyes were on the thrilling battle between England and Scotland. England eventually won by 2 ends to 1, however not before the final end was blown back to the middle twice after both teams received cautions for infringements. It really was a close semi-final which took a lot out of both teams. Photo - England 560 kilos team
There was a break before the final to allow the bronze medal pull off for both the mens 560 and the ladies 540 to take place, with Scotland taking a hard earned bronze medal by defeating the Netherlands by 2 ends to 1. The final came along with England looking to win the 560 kilos title last won in 2006. Northern Ireland made the better start, taking the first end. The second end saw England taking rope of the Northern Ireland team before both teams started picking up cautions. The second end was then blown back to the middle for a re-start, and both teams went to battle again. Again, England took rope, but both teams were picking up the cautions, and the second end was again blown back to the middle. The pull commenced again, and with both teams having to dig deep, England picked up the extra cautions which gave Northern Ireland a second 560 kilos world title. Despite the defeat, it was a great performance by England to compete like they did in the final after a tough semi-final against Scotland. Photo - England 560 team on the podium
The ladies 540 kilos event took place alongside the mens 560 kilos competition. There was only a small entry of teams in the ladies weights this year, with none of the home countries fielding sides. Many other countries did not field sides this year, which may be due to the financial difficulties many of us have experienced in recent months. Chinese Taipei again became World Champions, but were not without a fight this year, having had to defeat China by 2 ends to 1 to take the gold medal. Japan won the bronze against Switzerland.
The afternoon saw the mens 640 kilos competition take place. The defending champions were Scotland, but England went in to the competition with confidence of making a severe challenge to Scotland. England were represented by Sheen, who already defeated Scotland at the UK championships in January, and they were confident of further success.
England started the competition well, defeating Serbia, China and the Netherlands, before they met Scotland in the next round. England took both ends, although Scotland were no showing their hand at this point. England progressed to the semi finals along with Scotland, the Netherlands, and the Republic of Ireland, and were drawn against the Netherlands in the semi-final. England controlled this match well to make it to the final with a 2 ends to 0, where they again met Scotland. Photo: England 640 team celebrate winning gold
The final was very close, with Scotland taking 3 metres of rope from England before both teams hit the floor. Having received cautions, it was important for both teams to keep clean. England managed to come up off the floor quickest, and started to take Scotland back before Scotland received their third caution for sitting. The second end was an equally stern test for England, and went much the same as the first end, with England having to battle really hard to take Scotland over the line and secure the gold medal. England last won the 640 kilos title in 2002, and it was the first World Championship gold medal for a representative Sheen team since 1993. Photo - England 640 team on the podium
World Championships - Closed - Day 2
Day 2 commenced with the 600 kilos competition. Scotland were the defending champions, and England again had high hopes of at least reaching the final. England had a tough start against the strong Northern Ireland team, but came through with a 2 ends to 0 win. England progressed to the semi finals in second place in the group behind Scotland who defeated England in the group stages.
In the semi-finals, England were drawn against the Republic of Ireland, with Scotland being drawn against Northern Ireland. England quickly dispatched of Ireland by 2 ends to 0 in their semi final, with Scotland defeating a strong Northern Ireland team in their semi-final. Northern Ireland went on to secure the bronze medal against the Republic of Ireland. The final was another battle between England and Scotland. Both teams were strong, but Scotland got the upper hand on the first end after a slip from the England team. Scotland then went on to take the first end after England received three cautions. The second end was a much closer contest with both teams taking rope. Both teams then started to pick up the cautions, and with both teams on two cautions, they both hit the floor. The judge then awarded the pull to Scotland after giving England their third caution, which gave Scotland their first gold of the tournament. Photo - England 600 kilos squad
The ladies 500 kilos event was another small competition in comparison to recent indoor championships. Japan secured their second bronze medal of the tournament by defeating Switzerland, but there was a good final between Chinese Taipei and China, with both countries fielding strong teams. There was to be no repeat of the previous days final however as China went on to defeat Chinese Taipei by 2 ends to 0 to take a first ever TWIF World Championship tug of war gold medal for China. Photo - China Ladies Team
The final day of competition concluded with the mens 680 kilos competition, with England being represented by Raunds. Having had a good first half of the season, Raunds lost several pullers from their squad, and utilised pullers from Sheen to strengthen their squad for this weight. England made a good start, going one end each with the defending champions from the Netherlands. England also dropped ends to Scotland and Ireland, but beat all the other nations competing to earn a place in the semi finals, along with Scotland, the Netherlands, and Ireland. Photo - England 680 team
In the semi-finals, England were drawn to face 2008 silver medallists Scotland, with England being defeated by 2 ends to 0, which resulted in England having to face Ireland in the pull off for the bronze medal. The Netherlands defeated Ireland by 2 ends to 0 to reach the final. In the bronze medal match, it wasn’t to be for England. Having lost the first end, England made a substitution, but it was to no avail, as Ireland took their second bronze medal of the championship. The final gave Scotland a comfortable 2 ends to 0 victory to secure their second gold medal of the event.
Well done to all of the England teams who took part in the event. With all teams finishing in the top four, and to come away with one gold and two silver medals, it represents our best results for a few years. We now eagerly look ahead to the outdoor season, and we look forward to seeing everyone again for the March training leagues, and forthcoming open competitions which start in April.
Full Results:
Men 560
Gold - Northern Ireland - Silver - England (represented by Norton) - Bronze - Scotland - 4th - Netherlands
Men 600
Gold - Scotland - Silver - England (represented by Kilroe) - Bronze - Northern Ireland - 4th - Ireland
Men 640
Gold - England (represented by Sheen) - Silver - Scotland - Bronze - Ireland - 4th - Netherlands
Men 680
Gold - Scotland - Silver - Holland - Bronze - Ireland - 4th - England (represented by Raunds)
Ladies 500
Gold - China - Silver - Chinese Taipei - Bronze - Japan - 4th - Switzerland
Ladies 540
Gold - Chinese Taipei - Silver - China - Bronze - Japan - 4th - Switzerland
GENSB 2010
The GENSB youth international club competition will be taking place in Heino, Netherlands on the weekend of 27-29 August. Details of the camp where accommodation is to be provided can be found at www.heino.nl . The competition arena is 5km from the camp and transport from the camp to the competition area will be provided.
The GENSB competition is open to all member youth teams/pullers of the TOWA. For further details on how to enter, please contact our GENSB representative, Mr. Vic Ludkin - e-mail: victor.ludkin@ntlworld.com
The GENSB web site is www.gensb.eu. Entry forms to the event will be available from this web site in March.
NEW WEB SITE (08/02/2010)
We have recently re-designed our web site. Some pages are still under construction, however, we hope that everyone finds the new site useful and informative. If you have any suggestions as to how to improve this site further, then please contact Alan Knott by e-mail: alan_p_knott@hotmail.com
TOWA AGM (31/01/2010)
The Tug of War Association AGM was held at the end of January. 2010 handbooks are now available at a cost of £5 each and these can be obtained from your area representative, or the TOWA secretary. You can contact your area representative or the secretary through the contact page. Photo: Mr Len Hall (Right) of Area 2 (Midland Area of the TOWA) recieving the TOWA Award of Merit from TOWA President Mr. Tony Martin.
Mr. Len Hall and Mr. Ernie Jones both recieved the Tug of War Association Award of Merit at the meeting, which is awarded for long and distinguised service to tug of war. Len Hall of Area 2 has been involved in tug of war for over 40 years as a puller, timekeeper, and event organiser. Len is also an active committee member of the Midland Area 2 committee. Ernie Jones of area 6 has also been involved in the sport for many years from the 1970's as both a puller and a long standing grade 1 judge. Ernie was instrumental in getting a nuber of teams in South London to join the Association in the 1970's and has also served as president of the Essex Athletic Association where Ernie is actively involved in promoting tug of war. Photo: Mr Ernie Jones (Left) of Area 8 (South East Area of the TOWA) recieving the TOWA Award of Merit from TOWA President Mr. Tony Martin.
The current officers of the TOWA were all re-elected to serve again in 2010 and up to date contact details for members of the general committee are available on the contacts page.
This year a national open 4+4 600 kilos (four men and four women) championships will be held in conjunction with the Inter County Championships, which are being hosted by Bedford Ladies in Kempston, Bedfordshire. Further information will be made available in due course.
The venues for the 2010 national league hae also been confirmed, and details of the 2010 national league are available on the "National League 2010" page, where the league standings will be published as the season progresses.
Tug of War Association and Tug of War Federation Joint Committee
Informal discussions between the Tug of War Association and the Tug of War Federation of Great Britain have been held recently in order to discuss how to work together for the benefit of tug of war. Two meetings have been held, and you can read and download the minutes of thos meetings by clicking the links below.
UK INDOOR TUG OF WAR CHAMPIONSHIPS - 16TH & 17TH JANUARY 2010
Raunds, Norton, Sheen and Kilroe were all representing England at the UK indoor championships held in Wrexham North Wales. Despite the recent weather conditions proving to be a hindrance to the preparations of most teams from all countries, the competition was very close in both of the closed weight categories.
The event started with the 600 kilos weight class with Norton representing England A and Kilroe representing England B. England B went on to finish top of the group without losing an end, with England A finishing joint second in the group with Scotland A. England A finished third in the group as a result of the TWIF criteria applied to break the tie. England A were then paired with England B in the semi final, with Scotland A having to pull Northern Ireland A. England A turned the competition on it’s head by defeating England B in two straight ends, and Scotland A won their semi final to set up an England – Scotland final.
The final was a real gruelling contest between the two teams, with England A having the upper hand in the early stages of the first end. Scotland A had to work very hard to contain them when both teams hit the floor. Both teams returned to the attack and both teams later picked up two cautions for infringements. The battle was then on to keep up and keep working, but it was England A who were to be hard done by, by receiving a third caution which meant that the first pull was awarded to Scotland A. The second end was a repeat of the first end, and it was Scotland A who took the hard fought gold medal.
The afternoon then saw the 680 kilos take place, with England A being represented by Sheen, and England B being represented by Raunds. England A progressed to semi finals, finishing in joint first place with Scotland A, having drawn one end each in the group stage. It was to be a tough day for England B however who were represented by Raunds. Raunds had lost a couple of experienced pullers since the national championships, which made the competition difficult for them as England B, and they failed to make it through to the semi-finals. England A later defeated Northern Ireland A in their semi final to meet Scotland A in the final.
Much like the 600 kilos contest earlier, this was another tough final, but England A controlled the first end well to gradually edge Scotland A over the line. The second end was very intense with the rope being taken backwards and forwards by both teams before England A gained some control and started to edge Scotland A back before both teams hit the floor. Both teams then got back up to attack again before England A were awarded the pull after Scotland A received their third caution for locking.
Following the closed event, a mixed competition took place with three teams competing. Ayrshire from Scotland won the competition with Sheen A finishing as runners up, and Sheen B finished in third place. Medals were presented to the teams in the evening at the presentation dinner held at Wrexham Football club, and our thanks go to the hosts for their hospitality.
The open competition took place on Sunday with Sheen, Raunds, Kilroe, and Norton competing in the mens weight classes and Sheen Ladies also competed in the ladies weight classes. English clubs were again in the medals, with Kilroe winning the 600 kilos and 640 kilos weight classes after defeating Norton in two close finals. Sheen then went on to win the 680 kilos weight class, defeating Tinto from Scotland in the final. Two weight categories were contested between the ladies weights, with both Sheen Ladies and Ayrshire from Scotland sharing the honours.
A LOOK BACK AT 2009
2009 was another year of good tug of war, with events taking place all over the country. Here we look back at some of the highlights, as well as looking ahead to what is coming up in 2010.
The UK indoor championships took place in Northern Ireland in February, with England winning gold in the 680 kilos represented by Sheen, with England B winning bronze represented by Raunds. England also gained a silver in the 600 kilos, represented by Kilroe, with England B finishing 5th represented by Bosley. England also won the ladies indoor competition represented by Sheen Ladies. Kilroe and Sheen dominated the open weights, winning two gold medals each.
The outdoor season started well, with some well supported training league competitions in March, particularly in the South West and in the Midlands, before the full outdoor season got under way in April. The training leagues always provide teams with some good friendly competition pulling before the full competitions start.
Norton were the dominant team early doors in the lighter and middle weights, and Sandhurst started off the year being not too far behind them, with Bosley and Felton fairing well in the heavier weight classes.
The build up to the national championships also included some well supported ladies and youth competitions, and it was pleasing to see a good turnout of youth teams this year, particularly at the event in Daventry, which was supported by both junior girls teams and junior boys teams, with teams from Ireland and Wales also in attendance.
The national championships were held in Blandford, Dorset in June, and were hosted with the assistance of the Army, who did a great job with setting up the arena. The national championships were very well supported this year, particularly by teams from the Devon and Cornwall area, where the sport has started to take off again. Norton dominated the 560 and 600 kilos weight classes, with Felton taking the 640, and Sheen took the catchweight title, winning their first national outdoor title for 25 years.
Bosley won the 680 and 720 titles to take their total of national outdoor titles to 50 gold medals. Bedford Ladies won the two ladies weight titles, with Sandhurst and Leicester and Northants ACF winning one youth weight each. A junior girls competition took place for the first time this year, with Leicester and Northants ACF winning both of the junior girls weight categories.
Following the national championships, the AAA championships took place in July with Bosley winning the catchweight title, and Norton took the 640 kilos title. The following week, the World Games took place in Chinese Taipei, with Felton Eccles, Wood Treatment Bosley and Sheen Ladies all having the honour to represent Great Britain at this event which takes place every 4 years under the patronage of the IOC. Felton represented Great Britain at 640 kilos, in a tough field, and finished in fourth position overall. Bosley represented Great Britain at 680 kilos winning the bronze medal, and Sheen Ladies represented Great Britain in the ladies indoor 520 kilos event, taking another well deserved bronze medal for Great Britain. All credit must go to these teams for the hard work, training, and financial commitment which they all gave to represent their country.
August saw the inter county and UK championships take place, with Norton winning the double at the inter county championships winning the 640 and 680 shields. England field teams at the UK championships, winning gold and silver in the 600 kilos weight class (represented by Norton and Felton respectively), and gold and bronze in the 680 kilos weight class (represented by Bosley and Sandhurst respectively). England also won silver in the ladies 520 kilos weight class, represented by Sheen, and Bronze in the 560 kilos weight class, represented by Bedford.
The GENSB youth international competition was hosted by England in Penhale, Cornwall with the assistance of Leicester and Northants ACF Tug of War Club. A total of 44 youth tug of war clubs from Europe and South Africa competed at the event with England fielding a total of 7 teams. Leicester and Northants ACF were the only English team to progress to the knock out stages of the competition, which was eventually won by Mosnang from Switzerland.
The English season finished with the National League Finals. Norton finished as overall winners of the 600 kilos and 640 kilos weight classes, with Bosley winning the 680 kilos weight class. Bedford finished as winners of the ladies league, with Leicester and Northants winning the youth league, with Sandhurst finishing as runners up.
The European Championships took place in September, with England entering a team in all weight classes at the championships. Gold came in the 600 kilos weight class, with England finishing ahead of Switzerland in the final. England were represented by Norton who won the competition without dropping an end. England also finished 4th in the 640 (~represented by Felton), 8th in the 680 (represented by Sandhurst), 5th in the 720 (represented by Bosley), 4th in the U23 600, 6th in the Junior 560 (represented by LNR ACF), and 5th in both the ladies 520 kilos and 560 kilos weight classes.
The outdoor season finished with an end of season friendly weekend of tug of war at Kessingland in Suffolk, with tug of war taking place over 2 days. It was good to see a mixture of teams competing at the event of all abilities, and it is hoped that this years event will attract even more teams of all abilities to take part.
The indoor season commenced in October with all of the competitions being held in the Midlands. Most of the competitions were very well supported, with Tavistock from Devon having their first taste of indoor tug of war this season, having competed strongly on the outdoor circuit this year. Sheen once again dominated the championship events, winning the double at the AAA championships, and then went on to take 5 gold medals at the national indoor championships in December, which took their total number of indoor national titles to 80 gold medals. Norton took the gold in the 560, and Kilroe took silver to prevent Sheen from taking a clean sweep of national indoor titles.
The Tug of War Association would like to congratulate everyone who has taken part on the indoor and outdoor circuit this year, and we also thank those officials, volunteers and competition organisers who have also helped to make sure all of these competitions take place.
NATIONAL INDOOR TUG OF WAR CHAMPIONSHIPS - SATURDAY 5 DECEMBER 2009
This years national indoor championships were once again held at the Harry Mitchell Centre in the West Midlands, as teams fought it out in different weight categories fore the honour of becoming national championships, as well as the chance to earn the opportunity of representing England at the UK and World Indoor Championships in January and February. The teams competing were Leek, Sheen, Norton, Kilroe, Lincoln, Raunds, Uppertown, BAC, Tavistock. Unfortunately the ladies competition did not take place after teams withdrew due to injury.
The event started with the catchweight event, which is always run on a knock-out basis. The semi-finals consisted of Leek, Kilroe, Sheen, and BAC. Defending champions Sheen defeated BAC, and Kilroe defeated Leek. BAC defeated a strong Leek team by 2 ends to 0, while Sheen had a tough first end against Kilroe in the final, before going on to take the gold medal by 2 ends to 0.
Sheen then went on to take gold in the men 640 kilos event with relative ease, winning the competition without dropping an end. Kilroe went on to win the silver medal, knocking Raunds down into third place, with BAC finishing in fourth position. Tavistock from Devon made their national indoor championship debut in this weight, and although they did not make an impact on the final standings, it was good to see them there competing, and they will continue to improve with another full season of indoor training and competition.
The 560 kilos was contested following the 640 kilos competition, with Norton and Kilroe facing each other in the first match. Norton did not compete at the 2008 national championships, and so were un-seeded in this weight class. Norton started well, and in a good tight pull, defeated Kilroe by 2 ends to 0. Norton then overcame a strong Sheen team, and later defeated Uppertown to make sure of the gold medal. Kilroe won the silver medal, and Sheen won bronze.
The 720 kilos saw Sheen going out to defend another of the 5 titles which they won in 2008. Sheen again went through the whole weight class unbeaten to take gold, this time with BAC taking the silver, and Raunds taking bronze ahead of Kilroe.
The 600 kilos was another eagerly anticipated weight class, with a few contenders for the gold medal position. Sheen went in as defending champions, but the first clash came between Kilroe and Norton, with Norton pulling well to take this match by 2 ends to 0. Norton later met Sheen in another tight pull, but this time did not have enough to overcome their Staffordshire rivals who won a good pull by 2 ends to 0. Sheen secured the gold medal in the final round of competition by defeating Kilroe by 2 ends to 0. Kilroe won the bronze medal ahead of Uppertown who finished in fourth place, followed by Raunds, Leek, and Tavistock.
The final weight of the day was the 680 kilos competition. Having already successfully defended four titles, Sheen were looking to retain their fifth title in the final weight class of the day. Sheen had a good strong side in this weight, and the gold medal never looked in any doubt as they went on to win their fifth gold medal of the day. Raunds won a well deserved silver medal, with Norton edging out BAC to win the bronze medal.
Well done to all of the teams that took part over the course of the season, and we now wish all of those teams competing in the open and closed event at the UK and world indoor championships the very best of luck.
The officials at the championships were Ernie Jones, Mick Selwood, George Ferrett, Ray Fray-Smith, Vic Ludkin, Peter Craft, Matt Cowlard, Betty Craft, Yvonne Ludkin, and Jill Thomas. Prizes on the day were awarded by TOWA president Tony Martin. Many thanks also to Tony Henshaw, Paul Richards, and Len Hall of Area 2, who over the course of the season have helped the indoor season to run smoothly.
Civil Service Tug of War
The tri-services tug of war championships takes place annually between the police, the combined services, and the Civil Service. The Civil Service are looking for more pullers to take part in this years event. To qualify to take part in the Civil Service Team, any pullers working for a government department, body or agency; local/county council; or contract to an agency for an authority that are interested, please contact Frank Moriarty - e-mail frank.moriarty@btinternet.com or phone 01252 874576.
Tug of war returned to Congleton Carnival this year, an event that runs every two years. Only a small number of teams turned out, but they put on a good show for the large amount of spectators in attendance. Three weights were contested at 600 kilos, 640 kilos and 680 kilos. Hanging Bridge won all three weight classes on the day, with Bosley finishing as runners up in the 640 kilos and 680 kilos weight classes. Stretton finished as runners up in the 600 kilos event, and finished in third place in both the 640 kilos and 680 kilos event. The competition was officiated by Roger Beardsmore, and the event organisers expressed their gratitude to all of those who tokk part. They hope to have a few more teams taking part at the event when it is organised in 2012. Photo: Hanging Bridge competing against Stretton
Stretton YFC Tug of War competing at Congleton Carnival. Stretton are the current Cheshire county young farmers tug of war champions.
The 1947 Wimpey Tug of War Team
“In the 1950’s and early 1960’s Dad was well known in the Essex District of Debden, Loughton and Buckhurst Hill as an accomplished darts player, winning many league and cup titles, including the individual championships (he still has many darts cups and medals). My father was 90 last December and is still a fit powerful man for his age. The second photograph (left) was taken at his 90th Birthday lunch and shows him with two of his three adored grandaughters”.
The teams competing on the day were: Sheen, Holland, Norton, Wood Treatment Bosley, Hanging Bridge, Leek, Lincoln, Felton Eccles, Sandhurst, Oxney Vines Cross, Forge Lane, BAC, Tavistock, Widecombe, Team Army, 17 Port and Maritime Regiment in the mens weight classes. Bedford, Sheen and Leek took part in the ladies weight classes, and Sandhurst, Gloucester and Somerset ACF and Leicester and Northants ACF took part in the junior weight classes. Photo: Leek Ladies in the 540 kilos event
The day started with the catchweight event, although this year, there was only two teams taking part due to the lack of heavy teams around on the circuit this year. Those two clubs were Sheen and Holland, both from Staffordshire. Sheen performed strongly despite a huge effort from Holland to take the catchweight title by 2 ends to 0. Photo: Widecombe competing in the 640 kilos event
The ladies 540 kilos took place next with Sheen Ladies and Bedford Ladies having a good three end pull first on. Sheen took the first end, but Bedford took the second end to level the pull, before taking the third end to move ahead in the competition. Both Sheen and Bedford Ladies defeated Leek Ladies by 2 ends to 0, to ensure that Bedford finished with the gold medal and Sheen Ladies came away with the silver. Photo - Sandhurst youth competing in the junior 530 kilos event
The second mens weight was the 640 kilos event, which was pulled as a straight points competition. Felton started the defence of their title with a hard fought 2 ends to 0 win over Lincoln, whilst Bosley earned a hard fought 2 ends to 1 win over Sheen. Both teams then went on to lose their next pull, but started to pick up points again elsewhere. Oxney and Hanging Bridge were in contention of medals half way through the competition, but then started to fade away, leaving Felton, Lincoln, and Bosley in contention. Bosley defeated Lincoln by 2 ends to 1 to move within a point of them in second and third place, which meant that Bosley had to take two ends off Felton to take the silver. Felton had already earned enough points to secure gold, but Bosley gave them a real fight, but Felton had just enough to take the two ends to secure the gold medal without losing an end, with Lincoln taking the silver, and Bosley the bronze. Photo: Felton Eccles in the 640 kilos event
The first junior weight class of the day was the junior 530 kilos competition. Sandhurst started off by defeating Leicester and Northants ACF by 2 ends to 0, and Leicester and Northants went on to defeat Gloucester and Somerset ACF by 2 ends to 0. Sandhurst then beat Gloucester and Somerset to secure the gold medal, with Leicester and Northants taking silver. Photo: Norton in the 580 kilos event
The 580 kilos competition saw a large entry of teams and the competition was split into two groups. Norton and Forge Lane progressed from Group 1 ahead of Felton, Bosley, BAC, and Widecombe, with Sandhurst and Oxney progressing ahead of Team Army, Hanging Bridge, Tavistock, Hanging Bridge, Leek, and 17 Port and Maritime Regiment. In the cross over, Norton defeated Oxney by 2 ends to 0, and Sandhurst defeated Forge Lane. That left the two teams from Sussex to battle it out for the bronze medal, with Oxney taking the bronze medal against Forge Lane, who have made massive improvements over the past couple of seasons. The final was between Norton and Sandhurst, and was a repeat line up of the 560 kilos finals we have had for the past few seasons. Norton have had a strong and consistent season so far, and nothing was going to stop them again on this occasion as they defeated a spirited Sandhurst team by 2 ends to 0 to become the first team to take the new national 580 kilos title. Photo - Sandhurst in the 580 kilos event
The next mens weight was the 700 kilos weight class. Four teams entered this weight class – Sheen, Felton, Holland, and Leek. Sheen started off against Holland in their first pull, with Holland throwing everything at Sheen, before Sheen took the pull by 2 ends to 0. Holland and Leek then had a good pull second on which went very close before Holland took that pull by 2 ends to 0. Felton and Sheen meanwhile had another excellent battle, with Felton really having to hand on to Sheen on the first end before eventually pulling them over the line. Felton then took the second end, and went on to defeat Holland by 2 ends to 0 to take the gold medal, with Sheen taking silver and Holland the bronze. Photo: Holland in the 700 kilos event
The ladies 500 kilos weight class was a lively contest. Bedford defeated Sheen by 2 ends to 0 first on, but the best pull of the competition came second on between Leek and Sheen. Leek took a hard fought first end, before Sheen had to battle really hard to level the pull. The third end was equally as exciting, but Sheen had enough left in the tank to bring Leek over the line. Bedford secured the gold medal with a 2 ends to 0 win over Leek, with Sheen finishing as silver medallists. Photo - Bedford Ladies in the 500 kilos event
The 600 kilos event then saw another large entry of teams, and the competition was split into two groups. Bosley were the winners of group 1 ahead of Oxney, Felton Eccles, Hanging Bridge, Forge Lane, Team Army and Tavistock, with Norton finishing as winners of group 2 head of Sandhurst, Lincoln, Leek, 17 Port and Maritime Regiment, Widecombe, and BAC. Norton went on to again defeat Oxney in a semi final, whilst Bosley took a hard earned semi final win against Sandhurst to make the final. Oxney pulled strongly in the bronze medal pull to defeat Sandhurst by 2 ends to 0, and Norton gave another strong performance in the final, to win their second gold medal of the day by beating Bosley by 2 ends to 0. Photo: Sheen Ladies in the 500 kilos event
The junior 560 kilos event, again saw Sandhurst, Gloucester and Somerset ACF, and Leicester and Northants ACF fighting it out for the medals. Sandhurst won the competition without losing an end to take a well deserved gold medal, with Gloucester and Somerset taking a good silver medal, by beating the 2009 winners Leicester and Northants ACF by 2 ends to 0. Well done to all of the youth teams who took part. Photo - Leek in the 700 kilos event
The final weight of the day was the 680 kilos weight class. This weight is always usually wide open as the last weight of the day, with most teams having competed in many other weight classes. The competition was split into two groups. Felton edged through as winners of group 1, despite a very hard battle against Holland in this weight who went through in second place ahead of Hanging Bridge, Tavistock, Sandhurst and Team Army. Sheen progressed as winners of group 2 ahead of Norton who finished as group runners up, Lincoln, Bosley, Widecombe, and Oxney. Sheen defeated Holland in their semi final, and Norton came away with a good 2 ends to 0 win over Felton Eccles. Felton Eccles then went on to secure the bronze medal against Holland, whilst Sheen beat an underweight Norton team in the final by 2 ends to 0 to take their second gold medal of the day. Photo: LNR ACF in the Junior 560 kilos
At the end of the day, the gold silver and bronze medals were presented to the teams by TOWA president Tony Martin. The Tug of War Association would like to thank Sheen TOWC and Manifold County Primary School for providing the venue and hosting the event on our behalf. We would also like to thank all of the teams for coming along to the event as well as thanking all of the local people who turned out in force to support the teams. Photo: Gloucester and Somerset ACF in the Junior 560 kilos
We would also like to thank the officials for attending the event. As with the teams, without them, we would not be able to have a championship. They were: Peter Craft (Controller), Nick Major (Chief Judge), George Ferrett (Referee), Betty Craft (Chief Recorder), Wendy Dyer (recorder), Yvonne Ludkin (recorder), Roger Beardsmore, Matt Cowlard, Ernie Jones, Vic Ludkin, Adrian Willis, Ray Fray-Smith, Mike Callaghan, Mick Grimston, Julie Petit and Pete Dyer (Chief Marshall). We would also like to thank Alan Ludkin for providing the commentary on the days events. Photo - Bosley in the 600 kilos event
BAC competing in the 600 kilos event
Team Army competing in the 600 kilos event
Lincoln competing in the 680 kilos event
Sheen competing in the 680 kilos event
The 580 kilos event was split into two groups, with the lighter weight classes seeing large entries in recent weeks, the competition was again very close. Norton put in another fine performance in this weight to finish top of their group ahead of Bosley, Sandhurst, Lincoln, Hailsham, and Felton Eccles A, with Oxney coming through as winners of their group ahead of Felton Eccles B, Forge Lane (after a close 2 ends to 1 pull), Gloucester and Somerset ACF, and Team Army. Norton went into the final to record a good 2 ends to 0 win over Oxney. Photo: Sheen in the 680 kilos
The 680 kilos was again split into two groups. Sheen continued their strong performance in the catchweight event to edge out Lincoln to finish top of their group to go on to meet Felton Eccles in the final. Now that the ground had cut up, Felton had the opportunity to get behind the holes in the ground to try and stop Sheen’s power. Felton managed to do this to take a well deserved win in this weight. Photo: Felton Eccles competing with Sheen in the final of the 680 kilos event
The 600 kilos competition was by far the most keenly fought weight class on the day. The competition was split into two groups, with a good spread of teams across the draw. The first group saw Sandhurst come through as winners, to come through on top after a tough three end win over Oxney, however there was even more excitement in the second group, with close pulls between Sheen, Bosley, Forge Lane and Lincoln. Bosley defeated Sheen by 2 ends to 0 in a very hard pull, but were then defeated by Forge Lane by the same score. Sheen then came through to defeat Forge Lane by 2 ends to 0, but Bosley’s loss against Lincoln meant that Forge Lane and Sheen would have to pull again to see who would go through to the final. This was another great pull, with Forge Lane just edging it by 2 ends to 1. Forge Lane then went on to meet Sandhurst in the final. Both teams had had tough pulling in the group, but those extra ends for Forge Lane took a lot out of them, and it was Sandhurst who came through as worthy winners by 2 ends to 0. Photo: Forge Lane competing in the 600 kilos event. 
The event started with the 700 kilos event, which was pulled as a straight group. Felton Eccles performed strongly in this weight to win the competition without losing an end, followed by Lincoln who finished as runners up after a hard fought 2 ends to 1 win over Oxney first on. North Wiltshire started with a good performance to finish fourth overall in this weight. Photo - Oxney Vines Cross
The 580 kilos event followed, and this was again pulled as a straight group. Oxney and BAC had a good pull first on, and competition between Oxney, Sandhurst and Bosley was close to determine who would finish in first place. Oxney firstly defeated Sandhurst by 2 ends to 0, then Bosley followed suit to beat Sandhurst by 2 ends to 0. The final and deciding pull was between Bosley and Oxney, with Bosley coming away with a hard fought 2 ends to 0 win over Oxney. Photo - North Wiltshire TOWC 
The 680 kilos event was split into two groups. Oxney were the winners of group 1 ahead of Widecombe, Whimple and Broadclyst, and North Wiltshire, whilst Felton Eccles came through as winners of group 2 ahead of Lincoln, Bosley, Sandhurst A and Felton B. In the final of this weight, Oxney and Felton Eccles fought it out. Oxney gave a good battling performance, but Felton Eccles maintained their composure to work their way to a well deserved 2 ends to 0 win. Photo - Whimple and Broadclyst TOWC
The day started with the 600 kilos event, which was pulled in two groups. Norton were the winners of group A, ahead of Oxney who finished as runners up, and Lincoln won group B with Felton Eccles finishing as group runners up. There was also some very close competition between the other teams in this weight class. Their were many notable performances from Tavistock, Widecombe, Gloucester and Somerset, Kennford, and 17 Port and Maritime Regiment who had to endure many three end pulls. The final was between Norton, and Lincoln, and it was a good performance by Norton who won strongly by 2 ends to 0 to win the 600 kilos event for their fourth successive week. Photo: Widecombe in the 600 kilos event
petiThe 680 kilos was the second weight of the day, and was again split into two large groups. Norton were the winners of group 1, beating Bosley into first place to make the final, with Felton Eccles winning the second group ahead of Forge Lane. The final was a good battle between Norton and Felton Eccles, with the first end running very close, with Norton having to battle very hard to take Felton over the line. Norton asserted a little more control on the second end to contain the early surge from Felton, and went on to take a hard fought two ends to nil win against Felton, which was applauded by all around the field. Photo: Host club Felton Eccles competing in the 600 kilos event. 
The 580 kilos event followed, which was split into two groups. Forge Lane pulled very strongly in their group to make the final ahead of Oxney Vines Cross, with both teams having a good tussle to see who would come out of the group to make the final. Bosley were the winners of group two, which was another competitive group, finishing ahead of Tavistock and Felton who were also both in contention to reach the final. In the final, Forge Lane had the upper hand from the drop on both ends to take a well earned win in the 580 kilos weight class. Photo: BAC competing in the 600 kilos event
The 640 kilos event followed, again split into two groups. At this stage of the day, given the very warm weather, and hard pulling already endured, some teams started to fatigue, but it did not stop Norton from progressing to their third final of the day ahead of Oxney, Sheen, Bosley, Kennford, Widecombe, and Sandhurst B, where they met Sandhurst A in the final, who overcame Lincoln in a good three end pull, BAC, Felton A, Tavistock, and Felton B. Norton again dominated the proceedings against Sandhurst in the final, by going on to win by 2 ends to 0, although Sanhurst will be pleased with their efforts having come through some hard pulling in the group with two youth pullers in their team. Photo: Tavistock competing in the 600 kilos event
The final weight of the day was the catchweight event. There was a smaller entry of teams in this weight so it was pulled as a straight group. Sheen and Felton had to battle it out first on, with Sheen going on to win by 2 ends to 0. Sheen went on to win the competition, with Felton finishing as runners up. Photo: Kennford, who have recently reformed, taking the strain in the 600 kilos event. 
The 2010 Midland Championships started with the mens catchweight event, run as a single group points competition. The event included a few young farmers teams, who acquitted themselves well to the competition, despite being up against more experienced clubs. The competition between most clubs was close, but not as close as the deciding pull between Felton and Sheen which went to three ends. Felton took the first end, but Sheen took the second in with a hard battled win. The third end was equally as close, and just as Felton looked to be getting themselves back into the pull, Sheen managed to moved Felton over the line to win the pull and the catchweight competition.
The second weight of the day was the 580 kilos competition, again run as a straigh points competition. The pulling was again tight, with Bosley and Hanging Bridge having a three end match firs on with Bosley beating Hanging Bridge by 2 ends to 1. There were many other close pulls, but it was Sandhurst who won the competition without losing an end, with Bosley finishing as runners up.
The 680 kilos competition was split into two groups. Norton were the winners of group 1 ahead of Bosley, Sandhurst, Hanging Bridge and Haye-on-Wye, With Felton Eccles finishing ahead of Lincoln, Sheen and Rushock in their group. Norton went into the final with a light team, but pulled a good tight rope throughout to hold off the challenge from Felton to win the competition by 2 ends to 0.
The 600 kilos event followed, and again was pulled as a straight group. Norton were again very strong and won the competition without losing an end. Bosley finished as worthy runners up, but there was some good pulling between all of the other teams - Haye-on-Wye, Hanging Bridge, Sheen, Lincoln, and Caradoc, with many of those pulls going to three ends. 
The final mens weight of the day was the 640 kilos which was split into two groups. Norton were the winners of group 1 ahead of Lincoln, Felton Eccles, and Sheen, with Bosley winning group 2 ahead of Hanging Bridge, Haye-on-Wye, Caradoc, and Rushock. Norton and Bosley met again for the third time in a deciding pull in the final, and despite a battling effort, Norton came through as winners once again to take their third win of the day.
There was again a well supported ladies and youth competition, with Leicester and Northants ACF (A, B and C), Glouscester and Somerset ACF (A and B), Sandhurst Youth, and Bedford all taking part. This competition also welcomed the Eire OG team from Ireland, who have become regular visitors to Daventry over the years. Photo: Leciester and Northants ACF Youth.
The 680 kilos was another good competition, split into two groups. The teams from Southminster, Colchester, and Market Rasen gave some excellent battling performances in this weight, but Norton went through to the final as winners of group 1, with Felton Eccles also coming out of a tough group to reach the final. Norton put on a strong performance in the final for a hard earned win by 2 ends to 0. Photo: Cornwall ACF Youth
The 580 kilos competition was another interesting weight class, with Hanging Bridge coming through as winners of their group ahead of Sandhurst A, Bosley, Lincoln, Oxney and 17 Port and Maritime Regiment. Forge Lane came through as worthy winners of group 2 by defeating Felton Eccles, BAC, Sandhurst B, and Team Army. Forge Lane put up a good fight against Hanging Bridge in the final, but Hanging Bridge just edged out Forge Lane to finish in first place. Photo: Forge Lane 
The final mens weight of the day was the 640 kilos weight class, split into two groups. Group 1 was won by Norton, who defeated Sandhurst A, Felton Eccles, Oxney, Team Army, and Forge Lane. Group 2 was won by Hanging Bridge, who came through a competitive group ahead of Bosley, BAC, Lincoln, Sandhurst B, and Colchester. The pulling in this group was particularly good, with Colchester defeating Sandhurst B and BAC, and also taking an end out of Bosley. The final saw Norton face Hanging Bridge, who threw everything at Norton, but Norton held off the challenge to take their third win of the day. Photo: 17 Port and Maritime Regiment
The ladies and youth weights were contested at 560 kilos and 520 kilos. The 560 kilos was the first weight, which provided some good exciting pulls. The ground was a little bit greasy on top at the start, resulting in a couple of endy pulls to start with. Gloucester and Somerset had a good pull with the Eire OG team first on, narrowly being defeated by 2 ends to 1, before Sandhurst youth went on to win by 2 ends to 1 against the Eire OG team. Sandhurst went on to win this weight without losing an end. Leicester and Northants ACF fielded three teams in this weight, fielding teams with a mix of both junior boys and girls pullers. Cornwall ACF also competed well, along with Bedford Ladies who had no other ladies teams to pull on the day. Photo: Hanging Bridge
The 520 kilos competition was later won by Sandhurst Youth, with Eire OG finsishing as worthy runners up ahead of Gloucester and Somerset ACF A. Photo: Colchester YFC
This week was the first competition of the Tug of War Association National League, which took place in Kempston, Bedford. The event was well supported with senior mens teams from Southminster, Triple F, Sheen, Norton, Felton Eccles, Sandhurst (A and B), Lincoln, Oxney Vines Cross, Wood Treatment Bosley, Gloucester and Somerset ACF, BAC, Hanging Bridge taking part. The ladies and youth competition also saw seven teams competing from Bedford, Sheen, Leicester and Northants ACF (A, B and C), Gloucester and Somerset ACF (A and B). The dry weather conditions meant that the ground was hard, and this factor, combined with the warm weather made the competition in all weight classes very competitive. Photo: Sheen Ladies in the Ladies and Youth 560 kilos
PhThe day started with the catchweight event, split into two groups. Norton won group one ahead of Felton Eccles, Bosley and Southminster, with Lincoln finishing as worthy winners of group two, finishing ahead of Sheen, Sandhurst A, Hanging Bridge, and Oxney Vines Cross. Lincoln and Norton met in the final as winners of their respective groups to decide who would finish first and second. Norton pulled strongly to take a 2 ends to 0 win over Lincoln. Photo: Bedford in the ladies and youth 560 kilos
The second weight of the day was the 600 kilos event, which was a good competitive weight class split into two groups. Sheen were the surprise package in this weight, winning their group ahead of Triple F, Felton Eccles, Bosley and Sandhurst B. BAC came through as winners of the second group ahead of Sandhurst A, Oxney Vines Cross, and Hanging Bridge, with whom BAC finished level on points. BAC and Hanging Bridge then had to pull again to decide who would go through to the final, and it was BAC who won through to meet Sheen. The extra pulling took its toll on BAC, and it was Sheen who came through to win the final by 2 ends to 0. Photo: Southminster in the catchweight event.
The 680 kilos was another points competition split into two groups. Norton were the winners of group one ahead of Oxney Vines Cross, Lincoln, Hanging Bridge and Sandhurst A. Felton Eccles won group two ahead of Bosley, Triple F, Sandhurst B and Sheen. Norton and Felton Eccles met in the final, with Felton giving an aggressive performance against Norton. Despite all their efforts, Norton kept their composure on both ends to take the win by 2 ends to 0. Photo: Felton Eccles in the catchweight event.
Alongside the mens 680 kilos competition, the ladies and youth 520 kilos competition took place. Like the Ladies 560 kilos competition earlier, the competition was again very very close, with some close pulling between all the teams. Bedford again were worthy winners, with Gloucester and Somerset ACF A finishing as runners up. Photo: Gloucester and Somerset ACF "A" team in the ladies and youth 560 kilos event.
The final weight of the day was the 640 kilos. This was again a points competition, split into two groups. Norton again pulled strongly to win their group ahead of Hanging Bridge, Bosley, Felton Eccles and Gloucester and Somerset ACF. Sandhurst A were the winners of group two ahead of Lincoln, BAC, Sandhurst B and Triple F. Norton were again a strong team in the 640, and went on to win the final by 2 ends to 0. Photo: Lincoln in the catchweight event
The competitions held on the day were all run as points competitions so all the teams got plenty of pulling. The ground cut up well, which made for good competitive pulling. The day started with the catchweight event, with Felton Eccles taking first place in this weight class, which they normally dominate at this time of year. Sheen took the runners up spot in their first outing since winning the gold medal at World Indoor Championships in February. Photo: Wood Treatment Bosley in the 600 kilos event
Following the catchweight competition, the 640 kilos competition took place. This again was run as a full group. Norton have again come back at the start of the season with a good level of fitness and won the competition without losing an end. Hanging Bridge were the worthy runners up, just finishing ahead of Bosley who finished third. Photo: Sandhurst TOWC competing in the 620 kilos event
After the 640 kilos competition, a memorial shield in memory of John was presented by his family to the winners of the 640 kilos event, and this award was received by Norton from Stuart Hollinshead who presented the award on behalf of the family. All of the pullers and spectators who attended the event then gave three cheers in tribute to John. Photo: Sturat Hollinshead (right), son of former Wood Treatment Bosley Coach John Hollinshead presenting Dave Calcutt (left)of Norton TOWC (640 kilos winners) with the John Hollinshead Memorial Shield 
The competition at the Guildford Easter Show in Surrey was held on Easter Monday. The recent wet weather had made the ground soft, but Monday remained dry and windy and the ground dried out as the day progressed. The surface was a bit slippery to start with, but as the ground broke up some decent holes soon developed, and the spectators were treated to some good pulling. The number of clubs taking part was down on last year, which is a shame because the Tug of War at this show is always popular with the spectators, and there were quite a few ‘old pullers’ in the crowd. Photo: BAC TOWC
The first weight was the Men’s 600 with BAC, Sandhurst A, Sandhurst B, Sandhurst Youth, Holland, Oxney A, Forge Lane and Bedford Ladies taking part in an eight team points competition. Sandhurst A won the weight, losing only one end to worthy runners up Forge Lane. Sandhurst Youth and Bedford Ladies took part in the Men’s 600 and, in accordance with the new rule, some of the men’s teams dropped pullers when they met these teams. Unfortunately one of the Bedford pullers sustained an injury near the end of this weight, and the team then withdrew from the competition. The injured puller was treated on the field by the St John Ambulance and we wish her a speedy recovery. Photo: Bedford Ladies TOWC
The first two days of the event were the open club competitions. There was little involvement by English clubs in this weight, although Raunds entered a team in the 640 kilos, and Kilroe entered a team in the 600 kilos. Neither team reached the semi finals, with both teams concentrating on representing England at the weekend. Abadino from the Basque region of Spain pulled very well to win the Open Competition at both 560 kilos and 600 kilos, with Bremore from Ireland winning the 640 kilos event, and Heidenskip from the Netherlands winning the 680 kilos event. Photo: Abadino in the Men 560
In the ladies open competition, the ladies teams from Chinese Taipei won both the ladies 500 kilos and ladies 540 kilos competitions. It was a different team to what we have seen dominate ladies indoor tug of war for the past 4 or 5 years, but this new team were technically just as good as their predecessors, and they won both finals against Basque team Badiotz. Photo - Chinese Taipei in the open 540 kilos
The closed competition started with the opening ceremony on the Friday evening, with pulling starting on Saturday with the mens 560 kilos competition. 10 countries fielded a team in this weight class, which turned out to be a very stern test for all teams taking part. England were represented by Norton in this weight, who progressed through the group finishing in first place, having lost one end to Scotland in the group. England progressed along with the Netherlands, Scotland, and 2008 winners Northern Ireland. With the quality of the teams in the last 4, the semi final draw would have a big impact on the final result. England were drawn against Scotland, with Northern Ireland apparently having the easier draw against the Netherlands. Northern Ireland progressed to the final, with a hard fought 2 ends to 1 win over the Netherlands, but all eyes were on the thrilling battle between England and Scotland. England eventually won by 2 ends to 1, however not before the final end was blown back to the middle twice after both teams received cautions for infringements. It really was a close semi-final which took a lot out of both teams. Photo - England 560 kilos team
There was a break before the final to allow the bronze medal pull off for both the mens 560 and the ladies 540 to take place, with Scotland taking a hard earned bronze medal by defeating the Netherlands by 2 ends to 1. The final came along with England looking to win the 560 kilos title last won in 2006. Northern Ireland made the better start, taking the first end. The second end saw England taking rope of the Northern Ireland team before both teams started picking up cautions. The second end was then blown back to the middle for a re-start, and both teams went to battle again. Again, England took rope, but both teams were picking up the cautions, and the second end was again blown back to the middle. The pull commenced again, and with both teams having to dig deep, England picked up the extra cautions which gave Northern Ireland a second 560 kilos world title. Despite the defeat, it was a great performance by England to compete like they did in the final after a tough semi-final against Scotland. Photo - England 560 team on the podium
England started the competition well, defeating Serbia, China and the Netherlands, before they met Scotland in the next round. England took both ends, although Scotland were no showing their hand at this point. England progressed to the semi finals along with Scotland, the Netherlands, and the Republic of Ireland, and were drawn against the Netherlands in the semi-final. England controlled this match well to make it to the final with a 2 ends to 0, where they again met Scotland. Photo: England 640 team celebrate winning gold
The final was very close, with Scotland taking 3 metres of rope from England before both teams hit the floor. Having received cautions, it was important for both teams to keep clean. England managed to come up off the floor quickest, and started to take Scotland back before Scotland received their third caution for sitting. The second end was an equally stern test for England, and went much the same as the first end, with England having to battle really hard to take Scotland over the line and secure the gold medal. England last won the 640 kilos title in 2002, and it was the first World Championship gold medal for a representative Sheen team since 1993. Photo - England 640 team on the podium
In the semi-finals, England were drawn against the Republic of Ireland, with Scotland being drawn against Northern Ireland. England quickly dispatched of Ireland by 2 ends to 0 in their semi final, with Scotland defeating a strong Northern Ireland team in their semi-final. Northern Ireland went on to secure the bronze medal against the Republic of Ireland. The final was another battle between England and Scotland. Both teams were strong, but Scotland got the upper hand on the first end after a slip from the England team. Scotland then went on to take the first end after England received three cautions. The second end was a much closer contest with both teams taking rope. Both teams then started to pick up the cautions, and with both teams on two cautions, they both hit the floor. The judge then awarded the pull to Scotland after giving England their third caution, which gave Scotland their first gold of the tournament. Photo - England 600 kilos squad
The ladies 500 kilos event was another small competition in comparison to recent indoor championships. Japan secured their second bronze medal of the tournament by defeating Switzerland, but there was a good final between Chinese Taipei and China, with both countries fielding strong teams. There was to be no repeat of the previous days final however as China went on to defeat Chinese Taipei by 2 ends to 0 to take a first ever TWIF World Championship tug of war gold medal for China. Photo - China Ladies Team
The final day of competition concluded with the mens 680 kilos competition, with England being represented by Raunds. Having had a good first half of the season, Raunds lost several pullers from their squad, and utilised pullers from Sheen to strengthen their squad for this weight. England made a good start, going one end each with the defending champions from the Netherlands. England also dropped ends to Scotland and Ireland, but beat all the other nations competing to earn a place in the semi finals, along with Scotland, the Netherlands, and Ireland. Photo - England 680 team
The Tug of War Association AGM was held at the end of January. 2010 handbooks are now available at a cost of £5 each and these can be obtained from your area representative, or the TOWA secretary. You can contact your area representative or the secretary through the contact page. Photo: Mr Len Hall (Right) of Area 2 (Midland Area of the TOWA) recieving the TOWA Award of Merit from TOWA President Mr. Tony Martin.
Mr. Len Hall and Mr. Ernie Jones both recieved the Tug of War Association Award of Merit at the meeting, which is awarded for long and distinguised service to tug of war. Len Hall of Area 2 has been involved in tug of war for over 40 years as a puller, timekeeper, and event organiser. Len is also an active committee member of the Midland Area 2 committee. Ernie Jones of area 6 has also been involved in the sport for many years from the 1970's as both a puller and a long standing grade 1 judge. Ernie was instrumental in getting a nuber of teams in South London to join the Association in the 1970's and has also served as president of the Essex Athletic Association where Ernie is actively involved in promoting tug of war. Photo: Mr Ernie Jones (Left) of Area 8 (South East Area of the TOWA) recieving the TOWA Award of Merit from TOWA President Mr. Tony Martin. 
The event started with the 600 kilos weight class with Norton representing England A and Kilroe representing England B. England B went on to finish top of the group without losing an end, with England A finishing joint second in the group with Scotland A. England A finished third in the group as a result of the TWIF criteria applied to break the tie. England A were then paired with England B in the semi final, with Scotland A having to pull Northern Ireland A. England A turned the competition on it’s head by defeating England B in two straight ends, and Scotland A won their semi final to set up an England – Scotland final. 
The final was a real gruelling contest between the two teams, with England A having the upper hand in the early stages of the first end. Scotland A had to work very hard to contain them when both teams hit the floor. Both teams returned to the attack and both teams later picked up two cautions for infringements. The battle was then on to keep up and keep working, but it was England A who were to be hard done by, by receiving a third caution which meant that the first pull was awarded to Scotland A. The second end was a repeat of the first end, and it was Scotland A who took the hard fought gold medal.
The afternoon then saw the 680 kilos take place, with England A being represented by Sheen, and England B being represented by Raunds. England A progressed to semi finals, finishing in joint first place with Scotland A, having drawn one end each in the group stage. It was to be a tough day for England B however who were represented by Raunds. Raunds had lost a couple of experienced pullers since the national championships, which made the competition difficult for them as England B, and they failed to make it through to the semi-finals. England A later defeated Northern Ireland A in their semi final to meet Scotland A in the final.
Much like the 600 kilos contest earlier, this was another tough final, but England A controlled the first end well to gradually edge Scotland A over the line. The second end was very intense with the rope being taken backwards and forwards by both teams before England A gained some control and started to edge Scotland A back before both teams hit the floor. Both teams then got back up to attack again before England A were awarded the pull after Scotland A received their third caution for locking.
Following the closed event, a mixed competition took place with three teams competing. Ayrshire from Scotland won the competition with Sheen A finishing as runners up, and Sheen B finished in third place. Medals were presented to the teams in the evening at the presentation dinner held at Wrexham Football club, and our thanks go to the hosts for their hospitality. 
The open competition took place on Sunday with Sheen, Raunds, Kilroe, and Norton competing in the mens weight classes and Sheen Ladies also competed in the ladies weight classes. English clubs were again in the medals, with Kilroe winning the 600 kilos and 640 kilos weight classes after defeating Norton in two close finals. Sheen then went on to win the 680 kilos weight class, defeating Tinto from Scotland in the final. Two weight categories were contested between the ladies weights, with both Sheen Ladies and Ayrshire from Scotland sharing the honours. 
The UK indoor championships took place in Northern Ireland in February, with England winning gold in the 680 kilos represented by Sheen, with England B winning bronze represented by Raunds. England also gained a silver in the 600 kilos, represented by Kilroe, with England B finishing 5th represented by Bosley. England also won the ladies indoor competition represented by Sheen Ladies. Kilroe and Sheen dominated the open weights, winning two gold medals each.
The outdoor season started well, with some well supported training league competitions in March, particularly in the South West and in the Midlands, before the full outdoor season got under way in April. The training leagues always provide teams with some good friendly competition pulling before the full competitions start. 
Norton were the dominant team early doors in the lighter and middle weights, and Sandhurst started off the year being not too far behind them, with Bosley and Felton fairing well in the heavier weight classes.
The build up to the national championships also included some well supported ladies and youth competitions, and it was pleasing to see a good turnout of youth teams this year, particularly at the event in Daventry, which was supported by both junior girls teams and junior boys teams, with teams from Ireland and Wales also in attendance. 
The national championships were held in Blandford, Dorset in June, and were hosted with the assistance of the Army, who did a great job with setting up the arena. The national championships were very well supported this year, particularly by teams from the Devon and Cornwall area, where the sport has started to take off again. Norton dominated the 560 and 600 kilos weight classes, with Felton taking the 640, and Sheen took the catchweight title, winning their first national outdoor title for 25 years.
Bosley won the 680 and 720 titles to take their total of national outdoor titles to 50 gold medals. Bedford Ladies won the two ladies weight titles, with Sandhurst and Leicester and Northants ACF winning one youth weight each. A junior girls competition took place for the first time this year, with Leicester and Northants ACF winning both of the junior girls weight categories. 
Following the national championships, the AAA championships took place in July with Bosley winning the catchweight title, and Norton took the 640 kilos title. The following week, the World Games took place in Chinese Taipei, with Felton Eccles, Wood Treatment Bosley and Sheen Ladies all having the honour to represent Great Britain at this event which takes place every 4 years under the patronage of the IOC. Felton represented Great Britain at 640 kilos, in a tough field, and finished in fourth position overall. Bosley represented Great Britain at 680 kilos winning the bronze medal, and Sheen Ladies represented Great Britain in the ladies indoor 520 kilos event, taking another well deserved bronze medal for Great Britain. All credit must go to these teams for the hard work, training, and financial commitment which they all gave to represent their country. 
August saw the inter county and UK championships take place, with Norton winning the double at the inter county championships winning the 640 and 680 shields. England field teams at the UK championships, winning gold and silver in the 600 kilos weight class (represented by Norton and Felton respectively), and gold and bronze in the 680 kilos weight class (represented by Bosley and Sandhurst respectively). England also won silver in the ladies 520 kilos weight class, represented by Sheen, and Bronze in the 560 kilos weight class, represented by Bedford.
The GENSB youth international competition was hosted by England in Penhale, Cornwall with the assistance of Leicester and Northants ACF Tug of War Club. A total of 44 youth tug of war clubs from Europe and South Africa competed at the event with England fielding a total of 7 teams. Leicester and Northants ACF were the only English team to progress to the knock out stages of the competition, which was eventually won by Mosnang from Switzerland. 
The English season finished with the National League Finals. Norton finished as overall winners of the 600 kilos and 640 kilos weight classes, with Bosley winning the 680 kilos weight class. Bedford finished as winners of the ladies league, with Leicester and Northants winning the youth league, with Sandhurst finishing as runners up. 
The European Championships took place in September, with England entering a team in all weight classes at the championships. Gold came in the 600 kilos weight class, with England finishing ahead of Switzerland in the final. England were represented by Norton who won the competition without dropping an end. England also finished 4th in the 640 (~represented by Felton), 8th in the 680 (represented by Sandhurst), 5th in the 720 (represented by Bosley), 4th in the U23 600, 6th in the Junior 560 (represented by LNR ACF), and 5th in both the ladies 520 kilos and 560 kilos weight classes. 
The outdoor season finished with an end of season friendly weekend of tug of war at Kessingland in Suffolk, with tug of war taking place over 2 days. It was good to see a mixture of teams competing at the event of all abilities, and it is hoped that this years event will attract even more teams of all abilities to take part. 
The indoor season commenced in October with all of the competitions being held in the Midlands. Most of the competitions were very well supported, with Tavistock from Devon having their first taste of indoor tug of war this season, having competed strongly on the outdoor circuit this year. Sheen once again dominated the championship events, winning the double at the AAA championships, and then went on to take 5 gold medals at the national indoor championships in December, which took their total number of indoor national titles to 80 gold medals. Norton took the gold in the 560, and Kilroe took silver to prevent Sheen from taking a clean sweep of national indoor titles. 
The Tug of War Association would like to congratulate everyone who has taken part on the indoor and outdoor circuit this year, and we also thank those officials, volunteers and competition organisers who have also helped to make sure all of these competitions take place. 
This years national indoor championships were once again held at the Harry Mitchell Centre in the West Midlands, as teams fought it out in different weight categories fore the honour of becoming national championships, as well as the chance to earn the opportunity of representing England at the UK and World Indoor Championships in January and February. The teams competing were Leek, Sheen, Norton, Kilroe, Lincoln, Raunds, Uppertown, BAC, Tavistock. Unfortunately the ladies competition did not take place after teams withdrew due to injury. 
The event started with the catchweight event, which is always run on a knock-out basis. The semi-finals consisted of Leek, Kilroe, Sheen, and BAC. Defending champions Sheen defeated BAC, and Kilroe defeated Leek. BAC defeated a strong Leek team by 2 ends to 0, while Sheen had a tough first end against Kilroe in the final, before going on to take the gold medal by 2 ends to 0. 
Sheen then went on to take gold in the men 640 kilos event with relative ease, winning the competition without dropping an end. Kilroe went on to win the silver medal, knocking Raunds down into third place, with BAC finishing in fourth position. Tavistock from Devon made their national indoor championship debut in this weight, and although they did not make an impact on the final standings, it was good to see them there competing, and they will continue to improve with another full season of indoor training and competition. 
The 560 kilos was contested following the 640 kilos competition, with Norton and Kilroe facing each other in the first match. Norton did not compete at the 2008 national championships, and so were un-seeded in this weight class. Norton started well, and in a good tight pull, defeated Kilroe by 2 ends to 0. Norton then overcame a strong Sheen team, and later defeated Uppertown to make sure of the gold medal. Kilroe won the silver medal, and Sheen won bronze. 
The 720 kilos saw Sheen going out to defend another of the 5 titles which they won in 2008. Sheen again went through the whole weight class unbeaten to take gold, this time with BAC taking the silver, and Raunds taking bronze ahead of Kilroe. 
The 600 kilos was another eagerly anticipated weight class, with a few contenders for the gold medal position. Sheen went in as defending champions, but the first clash came between Kilroe and Norton, with Norton pulling well to take this match by 2 ends to 0. Norton later met Sheen in another tight pull, but this time did not have enough to overcome their Staffordshire rivals who won a good pull by 2 ends to 0. Sheen secured the gold medal in the final round of competition by defeating Kilroe by 2 ends to 0. Kilroe won the bronze medal ahead of Uppertown who finished in fourth place, followed by Raunds, Leek, and Tavistock. 
The final weight of the day was the 680 kilos competition. Having already successfully defended four titles, Sheen were looking to retain their fifth title in the final weight class of the day. Sheen had a good strong side in this weight, and the gold medal never looked in any doubt as they went on to win their fifth gold medal of the day. Raunds won a well deserved silver medal, with Norton edging out BAC to win the bronze medal. 
Well done to all of the teams that took part over the course of the season, and we now wish all of those teams competing in the open and closed event at the UK and world indoor championships the very best of luck.