2023 National Ladies Tug of War Championships Results
The ladies national championships once again saw this side of the sport go from strength to strength with lots of close competition and a good entry of teams with 8 clubs taking part across 4 weight categories at 500, 520, 540, and 560. Those clubs were Bedford Ladies, Army Ladies, Bedfordshire, Melton Mowbray, Bosley, East Anglia, Upper Eden, and St Enoder.
Photo: Army Ladies
Ladies 500kg
The first weight class was the ladies 500kg competition with Bedford Ladies, Melton Mowbray, Upper Eden, Bosley and Bedfordshire taking part. At the end of the group rounds, Bedford Ladies and Melton Mowbray finished level on points at the top of the group after both teams went 1-1 in the group stage. Upper Eden finished third in the group and Bedfordshire finished 4th.
Photo: Upper Eden Ladies
The bronze medal match saw Bedfordshire face Upper Eden, with Upper Eden Ladies taking the bronze medal by 2 ends to 0. In the final, Melton and Bedford met in akeenly contested final which went to three ends. Bedford Ladies took the first end, with Melton battling hard to take the second end and level the match. For the third end Bedford won the toss for the choice of the third end and after another keenly fought match it was Bedford Ladies who took the gold medal by 2 ends to 0.
Photo: Bosley Ladies
Ladies 540kg
The 540kg competition was a group of 7 teams with Bedford Ladies, Army Ladies, Melton Ladies, Bosley Ladies, Upper Eden Ladies, St Enoder Ladies and East Anglia Ladies taking part. There was some close competition in this weight with Army, Bedford Ladies, Melton Ladies and Upper Eden all progressing to the semi finals ahead of Bosley, East Anglia and St Enoder. Army ladies progressed as group winners and they met Upper Eden in the semi finals with Bedford Ladies pulling against Melton Mowbray.
Photo: St Enoder Ladies
In the semi finals, Bedford Ladies overcame Melton Mowbray and Army Ladies overcame Upper Eden. Melton Mowbray and Upper Eden met in the bronze medal match which Melton won by 2 ends to 0. Onto the final, and we had another exciting match up between Army Ladies and Bedford Ladies with the Army Ladies looking to win their first national title. Army Ladies performed strongly to take the first end. The second end was very close with Army Ladies taking 3 metres of rope before they started to pick up cautions and were eventually disqualified for receiving a third caution for sitting. Army ladies won the toss for the choice of the third end but Bedford managed to beat the Army Ladies to the drop on the second end and built up enough momentum to take the Army over the line and win their second ladies gold medal of the day after a very good final.
Photo: East Anglia Ladies
Ladies 520kg
The 520kg competition saw Army, Bedfordshire, Bedford Ladies, Melton Mowbray, St Enoder, Upper Eden and East Anglia take to the field. At the end of the group stages, Bedford Ladies progressed in first place, followed by Army Ladies, Melton Mowbray and Upper Eden. In the semi finals, Bedford met Upper Eden and Army Ladies met Melton Mowbray. Both semi finals saw Bedford Ladies and Army Ladies win by 2 ends to 0 to set up another final between Bedford Ladies and the Army.
Photo: Bedford Ladies
The bronze medal match saw Melton Mowbray face Upper Eden, and after missing out on a place in a second final of the day, Melton Mowbray performed strongly to take the bronze medal by 2 ends to 0. The final saw Bedford Ladies and Army Ladies meet in the final for the second time of the day. This final didn’t go on for as long as the 540kg final earlier in the day with Bedford Ladies taking a 2 ends to 0 win this time to take their third gold medal of the day.
Photo: Melton Mowbray Ladies
Ladies 560kg
The Ladies competitions ended with the 560kg competition with East Anglia, St Enoder, Melton, Bedfordshire, Bedford Ladies and, Army Ladies taking part. The start of the group stages saw Bedfordshire take the first end against their neighbours Bedford Ladies with Bedford Ladies taking the second end to level the match. The semi finals saw Bedford Ladies compete against the Army and Melton Mowbray compete against Bedfordshire.
Photo: Bedfordshire Ladies
In the first semi-final, Bedford Ladies defeated Army Ladies by 2 ends to 0 and there was a really close match between Bedfordshire and Melton Mowbray. Both of these teams went 1-1 in the group stage, but this time, it was Bedfordshire Ladies who won the semi final by 2 ends to 0 to reach their first ever final. After a tough semi final, Melton Mowbray faced Army Ladies and by this point had run out of steam and Army Ladies took the bronze medal and their third medal of the day. Onto the final and the experience of Bedford Ladies proved to be too much and Bedford Ladies made it a clean sweep of gold medals by winning all four ladies weight classes which is a great achievement, but congratulations to Bedfordshire Ladies on a great performance to reach the final.
A big well done to all of the ladies teams who took part. It is great to see ladies tug of war growing and thriving and we would love to see more ladies teams and pullers on the circuit, so if you want to join a ladies team or register your ladies team with the Tug of War Association, then please do not hesitate to contact us.
Ladies National Championships Results Summary
500kg – Gold – Bedford Ladies – Silver – Melton Mowbray – Bronze – Upper Eden
540kg – Gold – Bedford Ladies – Silver – Army Ladies – Bronze – Melton Mowbray
520kg – Gold – Bedford Ladies – Silver – Army Ladies – Bronze – Melton Mowbray
560kg – Gold – Bedford Ladies – Silver – Bedfordshire – Bronze – Army Ladies
The recording of the entire live streaming of the championships can be viewed on YouTube below
