2025 British and Irish Indoor Champs Results
On the weekend of 8 and 9 February, the British and Irish Indoor Tug of War Championships took place in Newport Wales. It has been a few years since Wales last hosted the indoor championships and it was great to return there in the fantastic Geraint Thomas Velodrome.
England had A and B teams competing in all weight classes – men 600kg and 680kg, mixed 580kg and the womens 5 a side competition.
The day kicked off with a short opening ceremony before the mens 600kg competition took place. England A and B were represented by Uppertown and Sheen respectively, and they were up against two teams from Northern Ireland, one team from the Republic of Ireland and one team from Scotland. England A started with a win against Northern Ireland B, and England B started with a win against Ireland. There were a number of close contests, some of which went 1-1 with both England teams getting into the top four and into the semi finals. England A and B were joined by Scotland A and Northern Ireland A in the semi-final, with England B facing Scotland A and England A facing Northern Ireland A. England B took a 2 ends to 0 win against Scotland to get to the final, whilst England A had a tougher time of it, eventually losing 2 ends to 0 against Northern Ireland A.
Photo - England A 600kg - represented by Uppertown
England A faced Scotland A in the bronze medal match, and it wasn’t to be for England on this occasion, with Scotland taking the bronze medal by 2 ends to 0. In the final, England B faced Northern Ireland A, in what proved to be a very close contest. Northern Ireland took a tight first end. On the second end. England went for it and attacked from the drop to take a good advantage and keep the momentum going to take the second end and take the final to a third end. Both teams went for it on the third end and after tough battle, England took the end and the 600kg gold medal. Congratulations!
Photo - England B 600kg - represented by Sheen
Video: 600kg final first end
Video: 600kg final second end
Video: 600kg final third end
The ladies 5 a side competition saw England have two teams competing against Wales. Englands teams were very young with a number of pullers representing for the first time. After some good close pulling throughout, England B and Wales ended up in the final. Wales proved to be the strongest team on the day and they won the gold medal by 2 ends to 0.
Photo - England A ladies 5 a side team
The afternoon saw the mens 680kg competition take place. England A were represented by Sheen and England B were represented by Kilroe. They were again up against teams from Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Scotland. There was lots of close fought pulling in this weight, with a fair few 1-1 pulls, but both England teams progressed to the semi finals where they met each other. This match went all the way, going to four ends including a no-pull. This time, it was England B who progressed after a hard fought battle. The other semi final was a close match too between Scotland and Northern Ireland which also went to three ends, with Scotland eventually progressing.
Photo - England B ladies 5 a side team
Videos: 680kg semi finals
The bronze medal match between England A and Northern Ireland saw two teams competing after close semi finals, but this time it was Northern Ireland who took the win to take the bronze medal. In the final, England B were up against Scotland and despite a good effort, Scotland kept themselves together to take the gold medal by 2 ends to 0. Well done to both England teams for some great fight in this competition.
Photo - England B 680kg team - represented by Kilroe
The final weight of the day was the mixed 580kg with England A represented by Kilroe and England B represented by Sheen. None of the other nations entered a team in this competition, so it was a straight final. There were no three end matches this time, and England B performed very strongly to take the gold medal by 2 ends to 0. Congratulations!
Photo - England A Mixed 580kg - represented by Kilroe
The second day of competition was the open competition and the results were as follows:
Men 600kg – winners – Country Club (NIR) – runners up – Sheen
Men 640kg – winners – Sheen – runners up – Ayrshire (SCO)
Men 680kg – winners – Ballyhegan (NIR) – runners up – Sheen
Mixed 580kg – winners – Sheen – runners up – Kilroe
Photo - England B Mixed 580kg - represented by Sheen
In addition to the above competitions, a ladies/junior 6 a side competition was held with Kilroe and Sheen junior and sheen ladies taking part along with Penhow. Sheen juniors and Kilroe emerged as the strongest two teams with both teams going 1-1 in the group stage. They both met again in the final, and this time it was Sheen who took the 2 ends to 0 win to take the gold medal ahead of Kilroe. Well done to both teams!
Photo: Kilroe ladies/junior team
Our congratulations and thanks go to all of the teams, coaches, supporters and officials for making the weekend a success, and again, we thank everyone who has supported the indoor circuit again this year. As ever, we are keen to expand the indoor circuit, so if you want to take part next time, please do so and get in touch with us!
Photo - Sheen juniors
Images and videos courtesy of Jamie Dewsberry
