2024 National Championships Mens Results
The 2024 National Outdoor Championships saw the following teams competing in the senior mens weight classes:
Honiton, Anstey, Felton Eccles, Sandhurst, Oxney Vines Cross, Army, Bedfordshire, Lincoln, East Anglia, Kilroe, Bosley, Upper Eden.
Men 560kg
The championships got under way with the mens 560kg competition with Upper Eden, Lincoln, Bosley, Sandhurst, East Anglia and Felton Eccles taking part. The ground was wet to start with and a little bit endy, and we saw quite a few 1-1 pulls in the group rounds. Lincoln progressed to the semi-finals as group winners along with Upper Eden, Sandhurst and Bosley.
Photo: Upper Eden
In the semi-finals, Upper Eden were against Sandhurst and Lincoln were against Bosley. Both Lincoln and Upper Eden won their respective semi-finals by 2 ends to 0, so Bosley and Sandhurst faced each other for bronze. Bosley took the first end and Sandhurst the second end. Bosley won the toss of the coin for the choice of the third end and won the match to secure the bronze medal. In the final, it was a repeat of the 2023 final with Upper Eden taking on Lincoln. As with 2023, Lincoln took the gold medal by 2 ends to 0 to win the first gold medal of the day.
Photo: Bosley
640kg
The 640kg was pulled as a large group containing Oxney Vines Cross, Sandhurst, Lincoln, East Anglia, Bedfordshire, Upper Eden, Anstey and Honiton. With the weather clearing, the ground started to dry up, but there were still a few close matches and a number of 1-1 pulls. The eventual top four in the group were Lincoln, Anstey, Oxney Vines Cross and Upper Eden.
Photo: Felton Eccles
In the semi-finals, Lincoln faced Upper Eden and Anstey faced Oxney Vines Cross. Lincoln defeated Upper Eden by 2 ends to 0, and after a close match in the other semi final, Oxney defeated Anstey to progress to the final. The bronze medal match saw Anstey take a good 2 ends to 0 win to win the bronze medal against Upper Eden. In the final, Oxney Vines Cross put up a good fight against Lincoln, but it was Lincoln who went on to take gold by 2 ends to 0.
Photo: East Anglia
600kg
The 600kg was split into two groups. Group 1 contained Lincoln, Anstey, Upper Eden, Sandhurst and Army and Group 2 contained Felton Eccles, Oxney Vines Cross, Honiton, East Anglia and Bosley. Group 1 saw Lincoln progress in first place with a close battle for second place between Anstey and Upper Eden with Upper Eden progressing. Group 2 was won by Oxney Vines Cross with Felton Eccles progressing from the group in second place.
Photo: Oxney Vines Cross
In the semi-finals, Lincoln faced Felton Eccles and Oxney Vines Cross faced Upper Eden. Both Lincoln and Oxney won their respective semi-finals by 2 ends to 0 to progress to the final. Felton and Upper Eden faced each other in the bronze medal match which Upper Eden won by 2 ends to 0. In the final, Lincoln secured their third gold medal of the day by 2 ends to 0 against Oxney Vines Cross.
Photo: Sandhurst
680kg
The 680kg was split into two groups with Lincoln, Honiton, Kilroe, Anstey and Sandhurst competing in group 1 and Felton Eccles, Oxney Vines Cross, Bedfordshire, and Army competing in group 2. Lincoln finished as group 1 winners ahead of Anstey and Felton Eccles finished as group 2 winners ahead of Bedfordshire.
Photo: Anstey
In the semi finals, Lincoln faced Bedfordshire and Felton Eccles faced Anstey. Lincoln were the first team through to the final with a 2 ends to 0 win against Bedfordshire, but what an exciting semi-final we got between Felton Eccles and Anstey which went to three ends. Felton Eccles took the first end with Anstey taking the second end after Felton Eccles received three cautions. The third end was a really close pull with both teams being able to take advantage over the course of the pull, but eventually it went Felton Eccles way as they battled back to take the rope over the line to make the final.
Photo: Army
Anstey went into the bronze medal match against Bedfordshire, and having left everything on the field in the semi-final, they didn’t have enough against Bedfordshire who went on to take the bronze medal by 2 ends to 0. In the final, it was Lincoln vs Felton Eccles and Lincoln took their fourth gold medal of the day by 2 ends to 0.
Photo: Bedfordshire
720kg
The 720kg was held as a knock out competition as per the rule changes implemented in 2023 to put the international qualifying weight classes first with 720kg and catchweight moved to the end of the day and run on a knock out basis. The first round of matches saw Oxney face Felton Eccles, Anstey face Bedfordshire, Lincoln face Honiton with Army getting a bye. Felton, Bedfordshire and Lincoln all progressed with Lincoln facing Army in the semi finals and Felton Eccles facing Bedfordshire. Lincoln and Felton Eccles won their respective semi finals by 2 ends to 0 to progress to the final.
Photo: Kilroe
In the bronze medal match, Army put in a strong performance to defeat Bedfordshire by 2 ends to 0 to take the bronze medal. In the final, we were treated to a very competitive pull between Lincoln and Felton Eccles, with Felton Eccles pulling a strong performance out of the bag to take the gold medal by 2 ends to 0 and deny Lincoln a clean sweep of gold medals for the day.
Photo: Lincoln
Catchweight
The final weight of the day was the catchweight. The semi finals saw Army face Upper Eden and Lincoln face Bedfordshire. Upper Eden took a 2 ends to 0 win in their semi final, and Lincoln took a 2 ends to 0 win in their semi final. In the bronze medal match, it was Bedfordshire vs Army and this time, Bedfordshire turned the tables from the 720kg result and took the bronze medal against Army by 2 ends to 0. In the final, Upper Eden were up against Lincoln, and this time Lincoln managed to control the final to take a 2 ends to 0 win to win the gold medal.
Photo: Honiton
