02/04/2023 - Bosley TOWC Open Competition 2023 Results
Teams competing
Men - Bosley A and B, Upper Eden A and B, Bedfordshire, Lincoln, Sandbach Young Farmers, Eccleshall Young Farmers, Upton upon Severn, Penistone YFC
Ladies/junior - Upper Eden A and B, Bedford Ladies, Army Ladies, Melton Ladies, Bosley, Eccleshall, Penistone, Upton upon Severn.
Photo: Lincoln
Bosley Tug of War Club’s annual open competition was a well supported event with a good mix of experienced teams and YFC and junior teams taking part.
The first event was the catchweight competition and the ladies and youth 560kg competition. The catchweight competition also included a YFC mens competition, however to give all teams maximum pulling, the TOWA and YFC teams all competed in one group with winners and runners up prizes for two highest placed TOWA teams and also the two highest placed YFC teams. Lincoln, Upton, Sandbach YFC, Eccleshall YFC and Penistone YFC all took part Lincoln topped the group without dropping an end, with Sandbach YFC finishing in second place overall. Lincoln finished as the winners of the TOWA competition with Upton finishing as runners up. In the YFC competition, Sandbach finished as winners with Penistone finishing as the runners up.
Photo: Bosley
The ladies and youth 560kg competition was run as a large group with some good close matches all around giving the teams lots of good training. The eventual winners were Upper Eden B, with Upper Eden A finishing as the runners up, with many of the juniors taking part having recently returned from their tour of South Africa!
Photo: Eccleshall YFC Ladies
The 600kg competition followed which was pulled as a straight group. Lincoln won the competition without dropping an end off the other teams taking part. It was a close battle for the runners up position with Bosley A and Upper Eden finishing level on points at the end of the pulling. When the TWIF criteria was applied, Upper Eden finished as runners up having received fewer cautions.
Photo: Upper Eden Ladies
The ladies YFC 6 a side competition was run at the same time as the 600kg competition, however only Eccleshall YFC entered a team. But all credit to Army Ladies, Melton Ladies and Upper Eden for putting teams together to give Eccleshall YFC a competition. The eventual winners were Army Ladies with Melton Ladies finishing as runners up.
Photo: Bedfordshire
The mixed 580kg competition followed which was split into two groups of 5. Lincoln joined forces with Army Ladies to finish top of group 1, with Upper Eden B topping group 2 to set up a meeting between these two teams in the final. Lincoln finished as the winners by winning the final by 2 ends to 0.
Photo: Upper Eden
The 680kg and Ladies and Youth 520kg competition followed. In the mens 680kg competition, Lincoln topped the group without dropping an end. There was some close competition for second place with many teams dropping ends to each other. The eventual runners up were Sandbach YFC.
Photo: Sandbach
The ladies and youth 520kg competition again saw lots of hard fought battles and it was Penistone YFC juniors who finished as the eventual winners with Bedford Ladies finishing as the runners up.
Photo: Eccleshall YFC Mixed Team
The final weights of the day were the mens 640kg and the ladies and youth 540kg competitions. The 640kg competition yet again saw Lincoln take the win without dropping any ends in the group rounds. The competition for the runners up spot was again very close with lots of the other teams taking ends of each other. Bedfordshire, Upper Eden and Bosley all went 1-1 with each other and finished level on points, matches win and cautions so the runners up position was decided on weight. Upper Eden were the lighter of the three teams and finished in the runners up spot.
Photo: Penistone YFC
The ladies and junior 540kg competition was again run as a large group with lots of close competition. Army Ladies were in fine form and finished top of the group ahead of all of the other teams. The eventual runners up were Bosley.
Photo: Army Ladies
Officials on the day were John Gracie, Gavin Corden, Mick Grimston, Karl Bonahan, Mick Scull, Ray Fray-Smith, Dave Kitchener, Mark Williams, Rachel Lewis and Claire - thank you all for keeping the competition running smoothly all day and getting it done before 6pm even with lots of teams entered.
Photo: Upton upon Severn Ladies
Results Summary
Men Catchweight – Winners - Lincoln - Runners Up – Upton upon Severn
YFC men Catchweight – Winners - Sandbach – Runners Up - Penistone
600 – Winners - Lincoln – Runners Up - Upper Eden
680 – Winners - Lincoln – Runners Up - Sandbach
640 – Winners - Lincoln – Runners Up - Upper Eden
Mixed 580 – Winners - Lincoln – Runners Up - Upper Eden B
Ladies 6 a side – Winners - Army Ladies – Runners Up - Melton Mowbray Ladies
Ladies/junior 560 - Winners - Upper Eden B – Runners Up - Upper Eden A
Ladies/junior 520 – Winners - Penistone – Runners Up - Bedford Ladies
Ladies/junior 540 – Winners - Army Ladies – Runners Up - Bosley
Photos in this article taken by Jamie Dewsberry.
