Felton Eccles 75th Anniversary Open Competition Results
Felton Eccles TOWC celebrated their 75th Anniversary by hosting an international open competition over two days on 30 April and 1 May 2022 with weight classes for mens teams, ladies teams and mixed teams. It was a well attended event with teams from England, Germany, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland, and the Basque Country taking part. The following clubs attended:
Men – Felton Eccles (A and B), Lincoln (A and B), Bedfordshire, Sandhurst, Oxney Vines Cross (England), G&B, Mulcair, Ballinastoe (Ireland), Bancran, Garvagh, Derryogue (Northern Ireland), Goherri (Basque Country), Monnikendam, Lagerweij, Okia, Heure (Netherlands), Stans-Oberdorf, Sins, Ebersecken (Switzerland), Kaiserberg, Phillipenberg, Goldscheure, Algäu Power Zell (Germany)
Ladies – Bedford Ladies, Sandhurst, Bedfordshire, St Enoder (England), Sins (Switzerland), Monnikendam (Netherlands), Phillipenburg, Kaiserburg (Germany), Mulcair (Ireland)
Mixed – St Enoder, Bedfordshire, Lincoln, Oxney Vines Cross (England), Monnickendam, Heure (Netherlands), Sins (A & B) , Stans-Oberdorf (Switzerland), Goherri (Basque Country), Mulcair (Ireland), Kaiserberg, Phillipenberg (Germany), Ballinastoe (Ireland)
DAY 1
There was some excellent competition across both days with a dry sunny day on Saturday, but a wetter day on Sunday.
The first day of competition saw the men 680kg and 600kg competitions take place along with the ladies 560kg competition and the mixed 580kg competition. With the competitions made into large groups, it made for a good weekend of pulling for everyone.
The mens 680kg and ladies 560kg took place in the morning with the 680kg split into two groups of 8 and the ladies pulled as a straight group of 8.
In the 680kg competition, Stans-Oberdorf from Switzerland progressed as the winners of group 2 with Algäu Power Zell from Germany progressing to the semi-finals as group runners up. In group 1, Lincoln progressed to the semi-finals as group winners followed by Ebersecken who progressed to the semi finals as group runners up. In the semi-finals, Lincoln were up against Algäu Power Zell and the second semi-final was an all Swiss affair between Ebersecken and Stans-Oberdorf. The semi finals saw Lincoln and Stans-Oberdorf progress from their respective semi finals by 2 ends to 0. Before the final, the bronze medal match took place between Ebersecken and Algäu Power Zell, which Ebersecken won by 2 ends to 0. On to the final, and Lincoln secured a good 2 ends to 0 win over Stans-Oberdorf to take the gold medal.
The ladies 560kg competition was pulled as a straight group of 8 teams with the top 4 teams progressing to the semi-finals. There was some good competition in this weight, and it was good to see St Enoder Ladies, Bedfordshire Ladies and Sandhurst Ladies getting their first taste of international tug of war with all of them giving a good account of themselves. The top four teams to progress to the semi finals were Bedford Ladies, Monnickendam (Netherlands), Sins (Switzerland) and Kaiserberg (Germany). In the semi finals, Bedford overcame Kaiserberg and Sins overcame Monnickendam. The bronze medal match saw Monnickendam overcome Kaiserberg by 2 ends to 0. In the final, Bedford Ladies put in a fantastic performance to take the gold medal ahead of Sins by 2 ends to 0.
The morning events were followed by the Mixed 580kg competition. With 14 teams this was two groups of 7. There was some close competition in this weight class, and English interest in this event came in the form of Oxney Vines Cross, Bedfordshire, St Enoder and Lincoln. Lincoln progressed to the semi finals but missed out on a second final of the day, being beaten by Stans Oberdorf. The second semi-final was between Philippinenburg (Germany) and Sins A, with Sins A progressing to the final. Lincoln and Philippinenburg went into the bronze medal match which Lincoln won by 2 ends to 0. The final was an all Swiss affair between Stans-Oberdorf and Sins, with Stans-Oberdorf taking the gold medal.
The final weight class of the first day of competition was the 600kg competition, with 12 teams in two groups of 6This was a very lively weight class with Okia from the Netherlands progressing top of their group ahead of Derryogue (Northern Ireland), and Stans-Oberdorf progressed top of the other group ahead of Sins. In the semi-final, Stans-Oberdorf defeated Derryogue, and there was a very tough pull between Sins and Okia which Sins eventually won. In the bronze medal match, Derryogue overcame Okia to take the bronze medal. In the final, Sins secured a fine win to take home the gold medal.
DAY 2
The second day of competition began with the mens 720kg competition and the ladies 520kg competition.
In the 720kg competition, which was a group of 6, Lincoln progressed to the semi-finals and progressed all the way to the final where they met TTV Okia from the Netherlands. Lincoln secured a well deserved 2 ends to 0 win against their Dutch opponents to win their second gold medal of the tournament. TTV Heure from the Netherlands secured the bronze medal.
In the ladies 520kg competition, which was another straight group of 8, saw Bedford Ladies, Sandhurst Ladies and Bedfordshire Ladies all in action again, and once again Bedford Ladies progressed to the semi finals along with Sins from Switzerland, Monnickendam from the Netherlands and Phillipenberg from Germany. In the semi finals, Bedford Ladies were defeated by Sins and they went on to face Philipenberg from Germany for the bronze medal. In a tough three end match, Bedford Ladies today had to settle for 4th place after a good effort. In the final, Sins took the gold medal by 2 ends to 0 against Monnickendam.
The mixed 600kg competition, which was another straight 8, saw Sins from Switzerland take the gold medal ahead of Heure from the Netherlands who took silver with Philipenberg from Germany winning their second bronze medal of the day.
The final weight of the competition was the Men’s 640kg competition, split into two large groups, a 10 and a 9. As we saw throughout the weekend, there was some more top class competition which saw four teams from each group progress to the quarter finals. The quarter final line up was; Stans Oberdorf (Switzerland) v Largerweij (Netherlands); Pwer Zell (Germany)v Sins (Switzerland); Ebersecken (Switzerland) v Goldscheur (Germany) and Lincoln (England) v Bancran (Northern Ireland).
In the semi finals, Lincoln faced Ebersecken and Stans-Oberdorf faced Algäu Power Zell. Stans-Oberdorf and Ebersecken won their respective semi finals to set up an all Swiss final leaving Lincoln and Algäu Power Zell to battle it out for the bronze medal and what a great battle it was going to three ends. Algäu Power Zell won the first end with Lincoln taking the second end. Algäu Power Zell won the toss of the coin for the choice of ends and after another tough battle, Lincoln managed to take the end and a hard fought bronze medal. The final was won by the very classy Stans-Oberdorf team by 2 ends to 0.
This was a fantastic weekend of international tug of war and it was great to see lots of international teams on the field given the limited international tug of war over the past couple of years due to the pandemic. Thanks to all of the officials at home and abroad for officiating at the event, and our congratulations to host club Felton Eccles and all of their helpers and supporters for organising an exceptional and well organised event – a lot of hard work goes into organising these events and we appreciate the effort from all of those involved behind the scenes to put these events on.
Photos taken by Jamie Dewsberry can be viewed via the links below:
