Meet the England Tug of War Teams for 2026
With the British and Irish Championships coming up in Ireland in August, and the World Tug of War Championships coming up in South Africa in September, meet the teams representing England at these events. After fantastic results at the 2025 World Championships that we hosted in Nottingham where 15 medals were won by English teams across the open and closed competitions - including 6 gold medals, 2025 will be a tough act to follow!
England teams are selected based on results from the 2026 National Outdoor Tug of War Championships. Winning teams from that event are invited to represent England for the year at the British and Irish and World Championships, and where winning teams win more than one weight class, are invited to choose which weight class to represent at with runners up, bronze medallists and 4th placed teams being eligible to be invited to represent in the other weight class where that is the case. A and B teams are entered in the British and Irish Championships.
Anstey from Devon
Anstey will be representing England at the British and Irish Championships as England A in the mens 600kg competition, before going on to represent England in the mens 560kg competition at the World Championships. Anstey qualified as England’s representatives in these weight classes after an outstanding performance at the National Championships to win the gold medal in both of these weight classes. Anstey first got the taste for England pulling as a team at the 2024 British and Irish Championships when the represented England B in the senior mixed 580kg where they won a silver medal, before representing England at the 2025 British and Irish Championships where they won silver in the mens 600kg competition and gold in the mixed 580kg. The team then represented England in the mens 560kg at the 2025 World Championships for the first time at world level where they finished in 6th place. Some of their members were part of the successful Great Britain and England 640kg team that won both the World Games and World Championships in 2025. After a strong 2026 so far we look forward to seeing what they can achieve for England at this years World Championships.
Upper Eden from Cumbria
Upper Eden will be representing England England’s representative team in this weight class after finishing 4th at the national championships. Upper Edeb have represented England on previous occasions and in recent seasons have had a number of pullers from their ranks representing England in junior and under 23 world championships. A number of these pullers will now be stepping up to senior level so this will be a great experience for them.
Lincoln
Lincoln will be representing England A in the mens 680kg and mixed 580kg at the British and Irish Championships, and at the World Championships, will be representing England in the mixed 580kg and mens 640kg. Lincoln qualified to represent England as gold medallists in these weight classes at the national championships. Lincoln have been one of England’s most successful clubs in recent seasons, having reached the pinnacle of the sport in 2025 by representing Great Britain in the 640kg in China where the team won the gold medal, and followed this up by representing England at the World Championships in Nottingham by winning the open and closed 640kg competitions, as well as the open 680kg competition.
Oxney Vines Cross from Sussex
Oxney Vines Cross will be representing England B in the mens 680kg at the British and Irish Championships and will also be representing England at 680kg at the World Championships. Oxney qualified as England’s representatives after winning silver in the mens 640kg, 680kg and 720kg competitions and bronze in the mens 560kg competition. Oxney are another long standing team in the TOWA that has represented England in a number of UK, British and Irish, European, World Championships and World Games over the years, with the clubs most recent international success being British and Irish Championships gold for England in the 600kg in 2024.
Melton Mowbray from Leicestershire
Melton Mowbray Ladies will be representing England A in the womens 520kg competition at the British and Irish Championships and the 500kg competition at the World Championships. Melton swept the board at the national championships by winning all four of the womens weight classes on offer at 500kg, 520kg, 540kg and 560kg. Melton’s first taste of international tug of war came in 2021 at the British and Irish Championships where they represented England in the womens 560kg competition and won the gold medal. Their first experience at world level was the 2022 World Championships in Holten, Netherlands where they won bronze in the womens 540kg in the open club competition and represented England in the same weight class in the international competition finishing in 6th place. In 2024 they represented England at 500kg, again finishing in 6th place. In 2025 Melton Mowbray Ladies represented Great Britain at the World Games in Chengdu, China at 500kg in appalling weather conditions with the team finishing up in 5th place. But they made up for that disappointment at the World Championships in Nottingham by winning bronze for England in the 500kg competition.
Army Ladies
Army Ladies will this year be representing England A in the womens 560kg at the British and Irish Championships, before going on to represent England in the womens 540kg at the World Championships. Army Ladies who will be presenting England at a World Championships for the first time since 2023 where they acheived 4th place in the closed 540kg and a bronze in the open club 540kg competition. The team has had strong performances at recent British and Irish championships where they won gold in 2024 and silver in 2025 in the 560kg competition and they will be hoping to regain that title this year. Army Ladies have had a strong season to date, after picking up three silver medals at the National Championships.
Bedfordshire Junior Women
Bedfordshire will be representing England in the junior women 480kg at the World Championships and as a club will be representing England at junior level for the very first time.
The team won silver in this weight class at the national championships and we look forward to seeing what they can achieve in South Africa!
Norton from Staffordshire
Norton will this year be representing England B in the mens 600kg competition at the British and Irish Championships.
Even though the team has been on hiatus in recent seasons, they need no introductions having been a very successful club over the years winning numerous national and international titles and 2 world games titles. The team won the 720kg competition at the national championships, while also winning silver in the 600kg and bronze in the 640kg competition.
Bedford Ladies
This year, Bedford Ladies will be representing England B in the womens 520kg competition at the British and Irish Championships and will be the defending champions in this weight class.
Always a very competitive team at international level, the team goes into the event having picked up silver in the open club competition at the World Championships at 540kg in both 2024 and 2025, as well as winning bronze in the closed 540kg competition at the 2025 World Championships in Nottingham.
Bedford have been a very successful womens tug of war team over the years, winning a number of national, AAA, Inter County and national league titles, as well as a number of international medals at the UK and British and Irish Championships and World and European Championships.
Kilroe from South Yorkshire
Kilroe will be representing England B in the mixed 580kg at the British and Irish Championships after winning silver in this weight class at the national championships.
Like other clubs, it has had a very successful history over the years winning many national and international titles. The team includes a number of pullers who had a very successful 2025 with the England under 23 team who won numerous medals at the 2025 World Championships in Nottingham and we look forward to seeing what they can acheive in Ireland in August.
South West Area Juniors
The England A Junior Mens team for the British and Irish Championships will be represented by the South West Area juniors who won this weight at the national championships in June and we look forward to seeing what they can achieve in Ireland.
England B will be represented by a squad team made up of junior teams from around the country.
Felton Eccles Juniors from Somerset
Felton Eccles will this year be representing England A after winning this weight class at the national championships.
Felton Eccles have had a very successful senior team over many years, so this time it is their juniors that are stepping into the limelight to represent England and follow in the footsteps of their senior team and we look forward to seeing what they can achieve.
England Junior Mixed 520kg and Junior Men 560kg - World Championships Team
This year, England will be represented by squad teams of junior pullers from around the country at the World Championships in the junior mixed 520kg and the Junior Men 560kg. In 2025, the junior men finished in 6th place and the junior mixed finished in 5th place.
Representing England on the World Stage will be a fantastic learning experience for our juniors and we wish them every success.
Good lick to all of the juniors who are selected.
England Under 23s - British and Irish Championships and World Championships
The England under 23 teams will once again be formed by under 23 pullers from around the country. As ever, these teams always change as pullers come of age, but our teams will always be competitive, but 2025 will be a very tough act to follow after our under 23s picked up bronze medals as England C in the senior womens 520kg and senior mixed 580kg at the British and Irish Championships, before the best performance ever from our under 23s at the 2025 World Championships with gold in the open club under 23 mens 600kg and mixed 560kg and bronze in the womens 500kg before the England under 23 teams won bronze in the under 23 mens 600kg, silver in the under 23 womens 500kg and gold in the under 23 mixed 560kg.
Good luck to all of our under 23s who are selected.
