Meet the England Tug of War Teams for the 2025 World Championships!
With 50 days to go to the World Championships in Nottingham on 4-7 September, meet the teams representing England at the event. Hosting a world championships on home soil is always very exciting and we are looking forward to seeing what our representative teams can do with the support of a home crowd! Spectators are encouraged to come along to the event, and spectator entry is FREE. To get your free spectator tickets, visit 
www.tugofwar2025.com/spectators.
This year, England will be represented by Kilroe Juniors who are based in South Yorkshire. Kilroe are a well known club on the circuit, and this year they won the junior mens weight class as a club for the very first time, in addition to winning the GENSB weight class.
Kilroe juniors got their first taste of representing England as England B at the 2024 British and Irish Championships where they won the silver medal. We look forward to seeing what Kilroe Juniors will achieve for England at the World Championships in Nottingham!
This year, England will be represented by Sheen Juniors who are based in Staffordshire very close to the Derbyshire border. Sheen are another well known club on the circuit, and this year they won the junior mixed weight class, their first junior title since 2002.
The current group of juniors at Sheen will be representing England at a World Outdoor Championships for the very first time, and while they may not have previous international experience, some of their pullers are relatives of past and present pullers of the Sheen senior team, so have plenty of guidance in the background to draw upon. We look forward to seeing what Sheen Juniors will achieve for England at the World Championships in Nottingham!
This year, England will be represented by Anstey from Devon, who will be representing England for the very first time at a World Championships. Anstey qualified as England’s representatives in this weight class after an outstanding performance at the National Championships to win the gold medal in this weight class, which was also their first English National Outdoor Championships title. Anstey first got the taste for England pulling as a team at the 2024 British and Irish Championships when the represented England B in the senior mixed 580kg where they won a silver medal, and a number of their members have also been members of the England under 23 teams in recent world championships, and picking up world medals at that level. This will be a great experience for Anstey and we look forward to seeing what they can achieve for England at the World Championships.
England’s representative team in this weight class will be Felton Eccles from Somerset. No strangers to international tug of war, Felton have represented England on numerous occasions, winning the world 640kg title for England in 1998, as well as winning number of world and European open club competition gold medals over the years, as well as medals of other colours. This will be the first time for a number of years that a mens 600kg competition will be part of the programme and it will be a very competitive weight class. The last time that a 600kg competition was held was at the 2009 European Championships where England won gold represented at that time by Norton from Staffordshire. We look forward to seeing what Felton can achieve with the high level of experience they have in their team.
England’s representative team in this weight class will be Lincoln, who qualified to represent England as gold medallists in this weight class at the national championships. Lincoln have been one of England’s most successful clubs in recent seasons, and are also heading out to China in August to represent Great Britain at the World Games in this weight class. Lincoln have won a number of silver and bronze medals for England at 640kg and 680kg at the World Championships in recent seasons and will be looking to go one better on home soil this time.
This year, England will be represented by Bedfordshire, who, like Anstey, will be representing England for the very first time at a World Championships. Bedfordshire qualified as England’s representatives in this weight class after an outstanding performance at the National Championships to win the gold medal, which was also their first English National Outdoor Championships title. Bedfordshire first got the taste for England pulling as a team at the 2021 British and Irish Championships when the represented England in the senior mens 600kg, and represented again at 680kg in 2023 where they won a bronze medal. This will be a great experience for Bedfordshire and we look forward to seeing what they can achieve for England at the World Championships.
This year, England will be represented by Melton Mowbray Ladies, who swept the board at the national championships by winning all four of the womens weight classes on offer at 500kg, 520kg, 540kg and 560kg and chose to represent England at 500kg in Nottingham. Melton’s first taste of international tug of war came in 2021 at the British and Irish Championships where they represented England in the womens 560kg competition and won the gold medal. Their first experience at world level was the 2022 World Championships in Holten, Netherlands where they won bronze in the womens 540kg in the open club competition and represented England in the same weight class in the international competition finishing in 6th place. In 2024 they represented England at 500kg, again finishing in 6th place. Melton Mowbray Ladies will also be representing Great Britain at the World Games in Chengdu, China in August at 500kg. As one of the closest teams to the venue for the World Championships, we are sure that they will be very well supported by their friends and families!
This year, England will be represented by Bedford Ladies who qualified for the event as silver medallists at the national championships
Bedford represented England at the 2024 World Championships in Germany in the 540kg competition and finished in an agonising 4th place after winning silver in the world open club competition.
Always a very competitive team at international level, they will go into the competition with a very experienced team and will very much have their sights on a medal at this years world championships on home soil.
Bedford have been a very successful womens tug of war team over the years, winning a number of national, AAA, Inter County and national league titles, as well as a number of international medals at the UK and British and Irish Championships and World and European Championships.
This year, England will be represented by Anstey from Devon, who will also be representing England in the mens 560kg competition. Anstey qualified as England’s representatives in this weight class after an outstanding performance at the National Championships to win the gold medal in this weight class, after winning silver in 2024. Anstey first got the taste for England pulling in this weight class at the 2024 British and Irish Championships when the represented England B in the senior mixed 580kg where they won a silver medal. As with the 560kg, this will be a great experience for Anstey’s men and women, and we look forward to seeing what they can achieve for England at the World Championships in an increasingly popular and competitive weight class.
England Junior Women 480kg
The England junior women’s team will this year be represented by a composite team formed of junior women from around the country.
In recent seasons, the England junior women have won two bronze medals and a silver medal at the world championships in this weight class, and we look forward to seeing what the class of 2025 can do on home soil in Nottingham!
This squad is still to be finalised and we will make further announcements for the England team in this weight classes in due course.
England under 23 mens 600kg
This years England team will be a squad team of Under 23 pullers made up of pullers from around the country.
At the 2024 World Championships, the team achieved 6th place and will be looking to build upon and improve this result in Nottingham.
The squad will be hoping to improve on the 6th place achieved at the world championships in 2024.
This squad is still to be finalised and we will make further announcements for the England team in this weight classes in due course.
England womens under 23 500kg
The England womens under 23 team will be a squad team of Under 23 pullers made up of pullers from around the country.
The England under 23 ladies team will be going into the event off the back of winning silver at the World Championships in 2024, bronze in 2023, and Silver in 2022.
A number of pullers involved in the above teams are still competing in this weight category, and they will be joined by other newer squad members, and we are looking forward to seeing what they are able to do!
This squad is still to be finalised and we will make further announcements for the England team in this weight classes in due course.
