A Look Back at a Successful 2024 World Championships for England Junior and Under 23 Tug of War
On 5-8 September, the TWIF world championships took place in Mannheim, Germany, and as part of that event, were junior and under 23 competitions held for junior men and womens teams, under 23 mens and womens teams, as well as mixed competitions at both junior and under 23 level.
England had teams taking part in both the open club competition and the international events, and it is pleasing to be able to report on a very successful weekend for our teams across both the open competition and the international competition.
Day 1 - Open Competition
Junior Mixed 520kg
The first day of competition saw the junior mixed and under 23 mens and womens competitions take place.
Upper Eden competed in the junior mixed competition and were up against two clubs from South Africa, and one from Switzerland, Scotland, Chinese Taipei, and Belgium. In the sandy ground conditions, there was lots of tough pulling and the team finished up in 7th place overall.
Final Result – Gold - Shou Shan-Jingmei from Chinese Taipei – Silver - Robertson School from South Africa – Bronze - Ayrshire from Scotland
Photo: Upper Eden Junior Mixed 520kg
Under 23 Men 600kg
In the under 23 mens 600kg competition, England under 23s competed in a large group of 10 teams, and were up against two clubs from South Africa, two from Germany and one each from Chinese Taipei, Netherlands, Wales, Switzerland and Scotland.
Again, in the sandy ground conditions, there were lots of long ends with the team eventually finishing in 8th place.
Final Result – Gold - Oakdale A from South Africa – Silver - Taiwan Sport University from Chinese Taipei – Bronze - Oakdale B from South Africa
Photo: England Under 23 600kg Men Open Team
Under 23 Women 500kg
In the women under 23 500kg, the England under 23 ladies competed as Anstey in a group of 6 against teams from Chinese Tapei, Scotland, Basque Country, Germany, and Switzerland. It was a tough competition for the ladies this time, having to settle for 6th place.
Final Result - Jingmei from Chinese Taipei – Silver - Goiherri from the Basque Country – Bronze - Mosnang from Switzerland
Photo: England Under 23 Ladies Open Team competing as Anstey
Whilst no medals were won on the first day, better things were to come on day 2.
Day 2 - Open Competition
Junior Men 560kg
The day 2 morning events saw the Junior mens 560 take place, with Upper Eden competing in a group of 8 against two teams each from South Africa and Switzerland, and one each from Chinese Taipei, Netherlands, Germany. Following on from the first day of competition, teams had started to adjust to the sandy ground conditions, and there were many long ends again.
Upper Eden gave a good account of themselves in this competition, taking some good ends off some strong opposition after a tough start, eventually finishing in a strong 5th place.
Final Result – Gold - Shou Shan from Chinese Taipei – Silver - Oakdale A from South Africa – Bronze - Oakdale B
Photo: Upper Eden Junior Men 560kg
The afternoon sessions saw the junior women 480kg and under 23 mixed competitions take place.
Junior Women 480kg
In the womens junior 480kg competition, Upper Eden took part having won the silver medal in 2023. This year, the team performed strongly to eventually top the group and progress to the final where they met Robertson School from South Africa. In a dominant performance, the girls came away with a 2 ends to 0 to win the world championships gold medal, which is a fantastic achievement and the first time a junior team from England has won a gold medal at a TWIF world championships. Congratulations!
Photo: Upper Eden Junior Women 480kg Team - World Club Championships
Final Result – Gold – Upper Eden – Silver – Robertson School (South Africa) – Bronze – Familie Janssens (Belgium)
Under 23 Mixed 560kg
In the under 23 mixed competition, England had an A and B team competing, with the A team competing as England Under 23s and the B team competing as Kilroe in a group of 7 clubs including teams from South Africa, Basque Country, Netherlands, Scotland and Czech Republic.
Photo: England Under B mixed 560kg Team Competing as Kilroe
After some very close pulling, England under 23s topped the group, with Goiherri from Basque Country finishing second and Ayrshire from Scotland finishing third. There was a tie for the final semi-ffnal spot between Kilroe, Valsbaai from South Africa and Het Loggertje from the Netherlands, and after the TWIF criteria was applied, Kilroe progressed meaning that England had two teams in the semi-finals and therefore at least one team was guaranteed a medal.
Photo: England Under 23 Mixed 560kg A team competing in the open competition
Both of the England under 23 teams faced each other in the semi final, with England Under 23s progressing with a 2 ends to 0 win, meaning that Kilroe went into the bronze medal match against Ayrshire from Scotland. In a fantastic turnaround from the group stage, Kilroe took a fantastic two ends to 0 win to take the bronze medal!
Photo: England Under 23 B Mixed 560kg Team - World Bronze Medalists
In the final, England Under 23s faced Gohierri from Basque Country. This pull went 1-1 in the group round, and this final was another close match up. England Under 23s took a long first end in slightly under 8 minutes before Goiherri turned it around to take the second end. Goiherri won the toss of the coin for the choice of the third end and after another battle, it was the team from the Basque Country who took the end and the gold medal, with England winning the silver in this competition for the second year running. Well done to both of our under 23 mixed teams!
Photo: England Under 23 A Mixed 560kg Team - World Silver Medalists
Final Result – Gold – Goiherri (Basque Country) – Silver – England Under 23s – Bronze – Kilroe
International Competitions
Onto the closed competition, and England were competing in all junior and under 23 weight classes.
Day 3 - International Competition
Junior Mixed 520kg
The morning competition on the first day of competition was the junior mixed 520kg. England were represented by Upper Eden who qualified for the event as national champions. In recent years, a junior squad team has been selected to represent, however as we had a full junior competition at the national championships this year, the winning clubs were invited to represent England this year, as is the case for senior teams, however as allowed with our rules, Upper Eden selected some pullers from other clubs (East Anglia, Bosley, Felton Eccles, Kilroe, Bedfordshire) to help strengthen their squad for this event.
Photo: England Junior Mixed 520kg team in action
In the junior mixed 520kg competition, England were up against Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, Belgium and South Africa. England made a good start by defeating Scotland by 2 ends to 0, before facing South Africa, Chinese Taipei and Switzerland in quick succession. The team was defeated by 2 ends to 0 in all of these matches, however the team then picked up 2 ends to 0 wins against Germany and Belgium to progress to the semi final.
Photo: Celebrating Bronze!
In the semi final, England met Switzerland who finished as group winners and went down to a 2 ends to 0 defeat to go into the bronze medal match. In the bronze medal match, England faced South Africa, a strong nation in junior tug of war circles in recent seasons, so taking a medal was no easy task. However, England put in a strong performance, and with the South African team starting to get tired, England took a fantastic 2 ends to 0 win to secure a very well deserved bronze medal.
Photo: England Junior Mixed 520kg team on the podium
Final result – Gold – Chinese Taipei – Silver – Switzerland – Bronze – England
The afternoon sessions saw England competing in the under 23 men and under 23 womens competitions. These teams were squad teams made up of pullers from the following clubs – Kilroe, Bosley, Anstey, East Anglia, Lincoln, Holland, Felton Eccles, Melton Mowbray
Photo: England Women Under 23 500kg Team
In the womens competition, England were up against Germany, South Africa, Basque Country, Chinese Taipei, and Scotland. England started off with strong 2 ends to 0 wins against Scotland and Basque Country before a 2 ends to 0 defeat to Chinese Taipei, and then 1-1 scores against Germany and South Africa. England progressed to the semi finals along with Chinese Taipei, Basque Country and South Africa.
Photo: England Women Under 23s celebrate getting to the final
In the semi final, England were up against South Africa and in a closely fought and exciting match, England lost the first end, and after a very close second end, South Africa received three cautions to make the pull 1-1. On the third end, England drove for the line and took a well deserved end to reach the final, meaning that whatever the result, the England under 23 women would come away from the world championships with a medal for the third year running.
Photo: England women 500kg under 23 team on the podium
In the final, England met a formidable Chinese Taipei team who had yet to drop an end, and despite a good effort, were not strong enough in the in the end to take the gold medal, but still came away with a fantastic silver medal.
Photo: England women 500kg under 23 team on the podium
Final result – Gold – Chinese Taipei – Silver – England – Bronze – Basque Country
Under 23 Men 600kg
In the mens under 23 600kg competition, England were represented by a squad and were up against teams from Wales, Netherlands, Chinese Taipei, South Africa, Germany, Switzerland and Basque Country. This was a good standard of competition, and England started off with a good 2 ends to 0 win against Basque Country first on before having a number of tough matches against Switzerland, Germany and South Africa, all ending in 2 ends to 0 defeats. England then defeated Wales, and needed to win their next match against Netherlands to stay in the competition. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be, and England were defeated by 2 ends to 0, which was followed by a 2 ends to 0 defeat to Chinese Taipei which meant that England could not progress to the semi finals. England eventually finished 6th overall in this competition.
Photo: England Men Under 23 600kg team
Final result – Gold – South Africa – Silver – Chinese Taipei – Bronze – Netherlands
Day 4 International Competition
The final day of competition saw the junior mens, junior womens and under 23 mixed competitions take place.
Junior Men 560kg
In the morning, the junior mens 560kg competition took place with England being represented by Upper Eden who were up against teams from Germany, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, South Africa and Netherlands. There was a lot of tough pulling in this weight, and England found it heavy going this time around, eventually having to settle for 6th place in a strong field. Well done to all of the junior men for their efforts this time.
Photo: England Junior Men 560kg team
Final result - Gold – South Africa – Silver – Chinese Taipei – Bronze - Germany
Junior Women 480kg
In the junior women 480kg competition, England were represented by Upper Eden. England were up against teams from South Africa, Chinese Taipei, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium. England had a shaky start losing to Switzerland by 2 ends to 0, but got back into the competition with wins over Germany and Belgium followed by a 1-1 match with South Africa followed by defeat to Chinese Taipei, however England had built up enough points to reach the semi-final.
Photo: England Junior Women 480kg team - World Silver Medalists
In the semi-final England were up against Switzerland, and here we witnessed a great turnaround from the group stage of the competition, with England securing a 2 ends to 0 win to reach the final. In the final, England were up against the ever impressive Chinese Taipei team, and despite their best efforts, lost out by 2 ends to 0 to secure the silver medal.
Final result – Gold – Chinese Taipei – Silver – England – Bronze- South Africa
Under 23 Mixed 560kg
The final weight class of the tournament for our junior and under 23 teams was the under 23 mixed 560kg competition. England were represented by a squad team and were hopeful of a medal after winning silver and bronze in the open competition, and also winning bronze at the 2023 world championships. England were up against teams from South Africa, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, Czech Republic, Scotland, Basque County and Germany. There were some really close pulls in this competition and mid-way through the competition, several teams were in contention of making the semi-finals. Unfortunately for England on this occasion, it wasn’t to be and things didn’t quite click together this time, with England eventually finishing in 7th place.
Photo: England Under 23 Mixed 560kg team
Final result – Gold – Chinese Taipei – Silver – South Africa – Bronze – Basque Country
