2022 Inter County Championships Results - 07 August 2022
The 2022 Inter County Tug of War Championships were held in conjunction with the Cheshire Game and Angling Fair near Knutsford in Cheshire. It was a hot day with the following clubs taking part:
Men: Lincoln, Felton (A and B), Bosley (A and B), Upper Eden, Lincoln, Holland, York with Bedford Ladies also taking part in the mens 600kg competition.
Ladies: Bedford Ladies, Bedfordshire, Melton Mowbray Ladies, Army Ladies, County Durham YFC Ladies and the England Under 23 development team.
Mixed: Bedford, Bosley, Lincoln, Bedfordshire, and “Melton Eccles” which was a combined team from Melton Mowbray Ladies and Felton Eccles.
The day started with the closed inter county weights with Somerset, Lincolnshire, Cheshire, Yorkshire, and Cumbria participating. At the same time as the inter county weights, the ladies 520kg and 560kg competitions were held.
The 640kg competition was the closest competition of the two weights with Somerset (represented by Felton Eccles) overcoming Cheshire (represented by Bosley) by 2 ends to 0 and Lincolnshire (represented by Lincoln) overcoming Yorkshire (represented by York) by 2 ends to 0 in the first round. At the end of the group rounds, Lincolnshire topped the group, ahead of Somerset who finished as group runners up, and Cumbria who finished third. The top two teams progressed to the final so it was Somerset and Lincolnshire who would contest the final for the “big shield”.
Photo: Felton Eccles
The fist end was a good battle which eventually went Lincolnshire’s way after a good fight from Somerset to stay in the pull. On the second end, Lincolnshire got a quick advantage off the drop and went on to win the end and the gold medal at 640kg for the second consecutive year.
Photo: Lincoln
Video: Final of the Inter County 640kg competition
The 680kg saw a small number of teams enter, but it was Yorkshire and Lincolnshire who went on to contest the final with Lincolnshire going on to complete the Inter County Championship double by winning the final by 2 ends to 0.
Photo: York
The open ladies 520kg competition saw some good close competition between all of the teams who took part, but it was the Army Ladies team who put in a great performance in this weight class without dropping an end. The eventual runners up were Melton Mowbray Ladies ahead of Bedford Ladies, Bedfordshire, Under 23s and County Durham YFC, who took part in this competition on their journey home from the NFYFC finals which they took part in and won the day before!
Photo: County Durham Ladies
The open ladies 560kg competition was again a closely fought competition, and at the end of the group standings, Bedford Ladies and Melton Mowbray Ladies finished level on points having gone 1-1 with each other at the group stage. Both teams had won the same number of matches and received the same amount of cautions, so under the TWIF criteria, the top team in the group was determined by weight. Bedford Ladies therefore topped the group being the lighter team, so Bedford finished as overall competition winners with Melton Mowbray as the runners up.
Photo: Bedford Ladies
The mens 600kg competition followed which was pulled as a straight group of 7. There were lots of close ends in this competition, with a few matches going 1-1. A particular highlight was the match between Lincoln and Felton Eccles A, which saw two keenly contested ends which eventually went to 1 end each. At the end of the competition, Lincoln and Felton Eccles A finished level on points and after the TWIF criteria was applied, Felton Eccles finished as overall group winners and went on to win the competition with Lincoln finishing as runners up.
Photo: Bosley
The mens 680kg competition followed. Pulled as a straight group, Lincoln dominated the competition and won the competition without losing an end. Felton Eccles A finished as the eventually runners up, followed by York in third place, Bosley in 4th and Upper Eden in 5th.
Photo: Upper Eden
The ladies 540kg was pulled in a straight group, and we had lots more competitive pulling. Melton Mowbray were this time the strongest team in the competition, finishing ahead of Bedford Ladies who finished as runners up, meaning that we had different winners for each of the ladies competitions on the day.
Photo: Melton Mowbray Ladies
The final mens weight was the 640kg competition, which was split into two groups to move the competition along with the top 2 teams in each group going to a semi final. Lincoln and York progressed from group 1, with Felton A and Upper Eden progressing from group 2. In the semi finals, Lincon overcame Upper Eden and there was a great semi final between York and Felton which went to 3 ends. York won the first end, but some great fight from Felton levelled the match. York won the toss of the coin for the choice of the third end, but Felton did a great drop of stopping the rush to take the third end and earn a place in the final. Lincoln proved to be too strong in the final and went on to record a 2 ends to 0 win.
Photo: Army Ladies
The final weight of the day was the mixed 580kg. Lincoln, Bedford, Bedfordshire, Bosley and Melton Eccles took part and there was some lively ends in this weight, particularly between Lincoln and Bedford and Bosley and Bedfordshire. In the end, it was Lincoln who took first place with Bedford finishing as the runners up.
Well done to all of the teams who took part and thanks to the Cheshire Game and Angling Fair for having us. It was great to take place at this event and it was nice to have lots of spectators stopping by to watch the tug of war on the day.
Photo: Bedfordshire Ladies
The officials on the day were Matt Cowlard, Mike Callaghan, Pete Dyer, Gavin Corden, Mick Scull, Mick Grimston, and the recorders were Wendy Dyer and Heidi Maddison.
This was the final competition before the British and Irish Championships in Swansea, Wales on 13 and 14 August and we wish all of the teams representing England in the closed and competing as clubs in the open competition the very best of luck!
Results Summary
Inter County 640kg – Gold – Lincolnshire (Lincoln) – Silver – Somerset (Felton Eccles)
Inter County 680kg – Gold – Lincolnshire (Lincoln) – Silver – Yorkshire (York)
Open Competition
Men 600kg – Winners – Felton Eccles A – Runners Up – Lincoln
Men 640kg – Winners – Lincoln – Runners Up – Felton Eccles A
Men 680kg – Winners – Lincoln – Runners Up – Felton Eccles A
Ladies 520kg – Winners – Army Ladies – Runners Up – Melton Mowbray Ladies
Ladies 560kg – Winners – Bedford Ladies – Runners Up – Melton Mowbray Ladies
Ladies 540jg – Winners – Melton Mowbray Ladies – Runners Up – Bedford Ladies
Mixed 580kg – Winners – Lincoln – Runners Up - Bedford
Photos courtesy of Jamie Dewsberry
