East of England Championships 2024 Results - 14/04/2021
Teams Competing
Men – Oxney, Sandhurst, East Anglia, Bedfordshire (A and B), Anstey, Bosley, Felton Eccles (A and B), Melton Mowbray, Army, Lincoln (A and B), York, Holland. Bedford Ladies and Melton Ladies also competed in the mens 600kg competition.
Ladies/Youth – Bedford Ladies (A and B), St Enoder, Sandhurst, Melton Mowbray, Bedfordshire, East Anglia, Army, Holland
Senior Mixed – Bosley, Bedford, Lincoln, Anstey, York, Sandhurst, East Anglia, Bedfordshire
It was another busy day this weekend at the East of England Championships hosted by Bedford Ladies TOWC at Kempston Hammer Sports Club with a good number of teams and pullers in attendance. Most weights were pulled in two groups, with the 600kg competition being pulled in 4 groups due to the number of entries.
First up was the catchweight alongside the ladies/junior 560kg competition. The catchweight was a straight group of 7 teams, run as a points competition with no final, with Oxney, Sandhurst, Lincoln, Felton Eccles, Army, Bedfordshire and East Anglia taking part. Both Felton and Lincoln progressed through the group stages without losing ends before meeting each other in the final round. Both teams were evenly matched, with the pull finishing 1-1, Lincoln taking the first end and Felton taking the second end. The group winners in the end were Felton having received fewer cautions than Lincoln who finished as runners up.
The 560kg ladies/youth competition was split into two groups with Bedford Ladies and Melton Mowbray Ladies eventually progressing to the final, which Bedford Ladies won by 2 ends to 0.
The 600kg competition had 16 teams entered, so the weight was split into 4 groups with the top team from each group progressing to the semi final. Lincoln A, Felton Eccles, Sandhurst and Bosley all progressed from their respective groups in first place. Lincoln A met Sandhurs and Felton Eccles met Bosley. Lincoln won their match against Sandhurst relatively comfortably by 2 ends to 0, and Bosley and Felton Eccles had a great battle in the other semi-final, with Bosley winning a hard fought first end, before going on to take the second end to reach the final against Lincoln. This time, the final went to three ends, Lincoln winning the first end and Bosley winning the second end. Lincoln won the toss of the coin for the choice of the third end and went on to win the final by 2 ends to 1.
The next weights were the mens 680 and ladies/youth 520. In the 520kg competition, there was some good close pulling with a few 1-1 pulls. Bedford Ladies entered an A and B team, with their B team progressing to the final ahead of the A team. In the final, Bedford B met Holland TOWC in final, with Bedford B coming away with a 2 ends to 0 win.
The 680kg competition was split into two groups of 6 and 5 teams respectively. There was again a lot of tug of war, and some evenly contested matches between the teams. York performed well to progress from Group 1, with Lincoln A progressing from group 2. So with York and Lincoln in the final, it was Lincoln who took their second gold medal of the day by 2 ends to 0.
The 640kg and the ladies/junior 540kg competitions followed. In the 640kg competition, there was two groups of 6. Group 1 saw Lincoln A progress to the final without losing any ends ahead of Felton Eccles, Sandhurst, Army, Bedfordshire. Group 2 saw York and Bosley on equal first ahead of East Anglia, Oxney Vines Cross, Lincoln B and Anstey. When cautions were taken into account, it was York who progressed to the final. In the final, Lincoln A ran out as 2 ends to 0 winners.
The ladies/youth 540 was the final weight of the day, and the long trip to the competition by St Enoder from Cornwall paid off as they ran out as overall winners of the competition ahead of Sandhurst who finished in the runners up spot.
The final weight of the day was the mixed 580 which was split into two groups. Group 1 contained Bedford, Bedfordshire, York and Bosley. Group 2 contained Lincoln, Anstey, East Anglia and Sandhurst. Lincoln and Bedford progressed from each of their respective groups to reach the final, with Lincoln this week running out as 2 ends to 0 winners.
Well done to all of the teams who took part and gave us a great day of competition. The officials on the day were Mick Grimston, Matt Cowlard, Vic Ludkin, Karl Bonahan, Alec Masson, Lee Walker, Caroline Kenny, Cath Gibbs, Mark Williams and Rachel Lewis-Loades.
Photos and videos taken by Jamie Dewsberry can be found on his 
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