2024 National Championships Womens Results
This weekend, the womens national tug of war championships took place in Offwell Devon with lots of teams battline it out for the four womens weight classes on offer. The following clubs took part:
Upper Eden, Bedford Ladies, St Enoder, Bedfordshire, Army Ladies, Melton Mowbray, Honiton, Sandhurst, East Anglia.
The teams were battling it out in the 500 and 540 competitions, which were World Championship qualifying weights, and the 520 and 560 which are British and Irish Championships qualifying weights.
The ground conditions were wet to start with after the overnight rain, but the weather cleared for the rest of the day. The conditions were tricky for teams early on, but as the ground dried up we got some good ends of tug of war.
500kg
This competition was pulled as a straight group of 8 team with the top four teams progressing to the semi-finals. East Anglia, Sandhurst, Bedford, Bedfordshire, St Enoder, Melton Mowbray, Army and Upper Eden contested this weight class with Bedford, Melton, Bedfordshire and Upper Eden progressing to the semi finals.
In the semi finals, Bedford faced Bedfordshire and Melton Mowbray faced Upper Eden. Bedford and Melton both won their respective semi finals to leave Bedfordshire and Upper Eden fight it out for the bronze medal.
Photo: Army Ladies
Both the bronze medal match and the final went to three ends. The bronze medal match was very close between Bedfordshire and Upper Eden with Upper Eden eventually taking the bronze medal by 2 ends to 1. In to the final, Bedford took the first end and Melton took the second end. Melton won the toss of the coin for the choice of the third end and quickly looked to take an advantage on the drop, edging the rope all the way to take the gold medal by 2 ends to 1.
This weight class was first introduced in 2010, held on a bi-annual basis when the world and European weight classes would alternate and Bedford had yet to be defeated in this weight class until this year, and we saw Melton end this impressive record. Well done to both teams.
Photo: Melton Ladies
540kg
This weight class saw Bedford, East Anglia, St Enoder, Honiton, Melton and Army Ladies taking part. No-one progressed through the competition without dropping ends, and the top four saw Army Ladies, St Enoder, Bedford and Melton progress.
In the semi finals, Bedford defeated St Enoder by 2 ends to 0, and there was a close match between Army and Melton in the second semi final which went to three ends. Army took the first end with Melton winning the second end. Melton won the toss for the choice of the end and pulled well to take the third end to reach their second final of the day.
Photo: Upper Eden Ladies
The bronze medal match saw Army and St Enoder battle it out for the medal with Army Ladies taking a strong 2 ends to 0 win to take the bronze medal. In the final, we got another good three end final between Bedford and Melton and on this occasion, Bedford managed to turn the tables from the 500kg final earlier in the day and took a good 2 ends to 1 win.
Photo: Bedfordshire
520kg
The 520kg competition had Army, Bedfordshire, Bedford, East Anglia, Melton, St Enoder, Upper Eden and Sandhurst taking part. This competition as split into two groups with Melton, Army, Upper Eden and Sandhurst in Group 1 and Bedford, Bedfordshire, St Enoder and East Anglia in group 2. Melton, Army, Bedford and Bedfordshire progressed to the semi finals. with Bedford facing Melton and Bedfordshire facing Army. Bedford progressed to the final with a 2 ends to 0 win, with the pull between Army and Bedfordshire going to three ends. Army took the first end and Bedfordshire took the second end. Army won the toss for the choice of the third end and went on to win a close third end and progress to the final.
Photo: St Enoder
Bedfordshire and Melton faced each other for the bronze medal with Melton taking both ends by 2 ends to 0 to secure the bronze medal. In the final, Army Ladies were up against Bedford Ladies and there was no 3-ender this time with Bedford Ladies taking the gold medal by 2 ends to 0.
Photo: East Anglia
560kg
The final womens weight of the day was the 560kg with Army, Bedfordshire, Bedford, Honiton, Melton and Sandhurst taking part. After the group rounds, Army, Melton, Bedford and Bedfordshire progressed to the semi-finals.
Photo: Sandhurst
In the semi finals, Bedford Ladies met Bedfordshire and Melton met Army. Both Bedford and Melton won their respective semi finals by 2 ends to 0 and Bedfordshire and Army went into the bronze medal match. In the bronze medal pull, it was another good fight, but it was Army who came away as 2 ends to 0 winners, leaving Bedfordshire with their third agonising fourth place finish of the day. The final saw Bedford and Melton meet in their third final against each other on the day – would it go to three ends again? This time, Bedford made sure that it didn’t, taking a strong 2 ends to 0 win to take their third gold medal of the day.
Photo: Honiton
Congratulations all the teams that took part – it was another great day for Womens tug of war with another strong entry of teams. We are always looking to expand the women’s section of tug of war, so if you want to join an existing club, or wish to register your own ladies club with us, then please do not hesitate to get in touch!
