2024 National Junior Championships Results
This weekend, the junior national tug of war championships took place in Offwell Devon and it was really pleasing to see an increase in the number of junior teams taking part this year with the following clubs, areas or regions taking part in the junior mens, junior ladies, junior mixed and GENSB competitions:
Beaminster, Upper Eden, Kilroe, South West Region, Felton Eccles, Northern Region, Area 9, Holland TOWC.
The first weights were the junior men 560kg and junior ladies 480kg.
Photo: Kilroe Junior Men 560kg
Junior Men 560kg
The junior mens competition saw some competitive pulling taking place in the group stages with the top four teams after the group round being Upper Eden, Kilroe, Felton Eccles and Holland TOWC. Upper Eden and Kilroe progressed to the final leaving Felton Eccles and Holland to battle it out for the bronze medal. In the bronze medal match, it went all the way to three ends with Felton winning a close pull by 2 ends to 1 to take the bronze medal. If one three end pull wasn’t enough, we were treated to another in the final between Kilroe and Upper Eden. Their match in the group stage was close, and the match in the final was very much the same. With the final going 1-1, Upper Eden won the toss of the coin for the choice of ends and took the third end and the gold medal. Congratulations to all of the top four teams for giving us some exciting medal pulls to watch!
Photo: Holland TOWC GENSB Team
Photo: Junior Men 560kg medallists on the podium - Gold - Upper Eden - Silver - Kilroe - Bronze - Felton Eccles
Junior Ladies 480kg
In the junior ladies competition, we had Upper Eden and South West Region taking part with Upper Eden taking the gold medal by 2 ends to 0. Congratulations to both teams for getting junior girls teams there and we hope to see this section of the junior competition expand next year.
Photo: Upper Eden Junior Ladies 480kg team
Photo: Junior Ladies 480kg medallists on the podium - Gold - Upper Eden - Silver - South West Area
Junior Mixed 520kg
The junior mixed 520kg competition saw Upper Eden win the group rounds without dropping any ends. Joint runners up in the group were Kilroe and Northern Region who went 1-1 in their match up followed by Beaminster who made the top 4. When the TWIF criteria was applied, Northern Region finished as group runners up having received fewer cautions. In the bronze medal match, Kilroe took the bronze by 2 ends to 0. In the final, Upper Eden met Northern Region, with Upper Eden taking a well deserved 2 ends to 0 win to take the gold.
Photo: Northern Area Mixed 520kg Team
Photo: Junior Mixed 520kg medallists on the podium - Gold - Upper Eden - Silver - Northern Area - Bronze - Kilroe
GENSB Competition
The final junior weight of the day was the GENSB competition where mixed junior teams take part in accordance with GENSB rules. The weight class is 560kg, with teams allowed to use up to 10 pullers, and a lower starting age limit of 12, with a bonus of an extra 10kg per female puller allowed if using female members up to a maximum total team weight limit of 600kg.
Photo: Felton Eccles Junior Men 560kg Team
This event saw 7 teams taking part with Upper Eden, Kilroe, Area 9 and Felton Eccles finishing in the top 4. The final saw Upper Eden and Kilroe face each other again with Area 9 and Felton Eccles competing for bronze. Area 9 took the bronze medal by 2 ends to 0 against Felton, and in the final, Upper Eden made it a clean sweep of junior weights on the day by taking the gold medal by 2 ends to 0.
Congratulations all the teams that took part – it was a great day and good luck for the rest of the season.
Photo: Beaminster Junior Mixed 520kg Team
Photo: Junior GENSB medallists on the podium - Gold - Upper Eden - Silver - Kilroe - Bronze - Area 9
Junior Tug of War in the Future
We hope to increase participation in junior tug of war generally and also look to increase the number of junior teams taking part at the national championships next year. As a reminder, and as agreed by the TOWA General Committee, the following junior teams are eligible to take part in TOWA championships:
- Clubs
-
Area Teams (consisting of junior pullers registered to different clubs within the same TOWA area)
Regional Teams – Teams made up of pullers from several Areas creating a Region. The Regions are as follows - South West – Pullers registered to clubs in TOWA Areas 8, 3, & 4; Midlands - Areas 2 & 5; South East - Area 6 & 7. North - Areas 1, 9 &10. The Junior puller would have to be registered to a club in that region
Later this year, we have the GENSB international junior club tournament taking place in England on Saturday 24 August. This is open to any club to take part in. The event is taking place at Keele University in Staffordshire and we want to see as many teams taking part as possible. More information is available at 
www.gensb.eu and the deadline to register your teams to take part is 19th July. A weekend half board accommodation package is available at a budget price of £96 per person. Full details are available on both the GENSB page of this web site and the main GENSB web site
Photo: Upper Eden Junior Men 560kg Team
