2024 British and Irish Indoor Championships Results
The 2024 British and Irish Indoor Tug of War Championships took place over the weekend hosted by the Scottish Tug of War Association at Beith to the south west of Glasgow.
For the first time prior to Covid, England had teams competing at the event, which was a good starting point as this side of tug of war in England has taken longer to recover in terms of participation than the outdoor side of the sport, and after a greater level of participation this year, it was good to see teams and pullers taking part at the British and Irish Championships, which is an important stepping stone for the future.
Clubs representing England in their own right were Sheen and Kilroe in the mens and mixed weights, with pullers from Sheen, Kilroe and Bosley forming ladies teams to represent England in the ladies competitions and pullers from Uppertown also supported Kilroe in the 600kg competition.
Photo: England A 600kg represented by Kilroe
The competition started with the mens 600kg with England entering two teams represented by Sheen and Kilroe. Scotland also entered two teams with Ireland and Northern Ireland also entering with one team each. It was tough going in the group stages for the England teams and they missed out on going through to the top four and the semi-finals with the chance to win a medal. The eventual gold medallists were Ireland, with Scotland A winning silver and Northern Ireland the bronze.
Photo: England A ladies 5 a side team
In the Ladies competitions, the competition was pulled as a 5 a side event and the weight class was 350kg. England fielded two teams in this competition and gained some good experience in the event with the majority of pullers taking part taking part in their first season of indoor tug of war. The gold medal was won by Scotland A, with England A picking up the silver and England B picking up the bronze. Well done to all of the ladies who made the effort to form teams and travel up for the competition.
Photo: England B Ladies 5 a side team
The mens 680kg followed with England entering one team represented by Sheen. England performed well in this competition defeating Northern Ireland first on and went through the competition only losing out to Ireland A. England progressed to the semi finals along with Ireland A and B and Scotland A. I nthe semi-final, England A met Scotland A and Ireland A and Ireland B met in the other semi-final. England A performed strongly to win their semi final by 2 ends to 0 and guarantee a silver medal. In the final, England were up against Ireland A and on this occasion, Ireland proved to be too strong and won the gold medal by 2 ends to 0, with England winning a well deserved silver. The bronze medal was won by Ireland B.
Photo: England A 680kg team - silver medal winners represented by Sheen
The final weight of the closed competition was the mixed 580kg with England entering two teams. England A were represented by Kilroe and England B were represented by Sheen. Both teams put in a good performance, with England B winning the bronze medal, before England A progressed to the final to meet Scotland A. England A put in a brave performance, but it was Scotland A who proved to be the strongest on the day and they took the gold medal by two ends to 0.
England A mixed 580 team - silver medal winners represented by Kilroe
The second day of competition saw the club competition take place with Sheen and Kilroe both competing in the open weights. It was another tough day of pulling in the 580, 600, 640 and 680 for mens teams, ladies 5 a side 350 and the mixed 580.
In the end, a bronze medal came the way of Sheen in the ladies competition, and a silver medal was again won by Sheen in the mixed 580kg competition.
England A Ladies 5 a side team - silver medal winners
At the end of the weekend, England came away with two bronze medals and three silver medals and after 4 years away from international competition and a silver and a bronze in the club competition. 7 medals is a good achievement in the circumstances and a good platform to build on in the future. We would like to thank all of the teams and pullers for taking part at this years event. We would like to see more teams and pullers have a go at the indoor circuit next season, so if you are interested in getting involved in the future and have any questions about this side of our sport, then please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.
England B Mixed 580 team - represented by Sheen
Videos of the various finals over the weekend from the open competition can be found on the Scottish TOWA Facebook page here - 
https://www.facebook.com/tug.scotland
