2006 National Outdoor Championships - Three Counties Show, Malvern, Worcester
This years outdoor national championships took place at the Three Counties show, in the shadow of the Malvern Hills. The weather was extremely hot, making conditions very hard for the teams, but we still had some extremely good competition, which was very close indeed. The teams that took part were Bosley Wood Treatment, Congleton, Norton, Hanging Bridge, Leek, Lincoln, Holland Sports, Felton Eccles, Warbstow, Hedge End, Sandhurst, Oxney Vines Cross and Team Army in the Men’s weight categories. In the ladies weight categories Sheen, Team Army, Belvoir Vale and Bedford all took part. Photo: Holland TOWC
Traditionally at the national championships, the catchweight starts the day, and is run as a knockout competition. The semi-finals put Holland Sports from Staffordshire against Bosley Wood Treatment from Cheshire, and Congleton from Cheshire were up against Sandhurst from Berkshire. Both semi-finals were relatively quick affairs, with Congleton and Holland both going through to the finals having won their matches by 2 ends to 0. In the bronze pull off Sandhurst and Bosley had the first three-ender of the day. Photo: Congleton
Sandhurst managed to take the first end after some good pulling, but on the second end, Bosley managed to hang on to Sandhurst and wear them down, and managed to equalise the pull. The third end saw both teams battle it out, but it was Bosley who had the most to bring home the bronze medal. The final saw defending champions Congleton from Cheshire take on Holland Sports from Staffordshire. Both teams convincingly won their semi finals, but Congleton had more power and experience than their opponents and took home the gold medal by two ends to 0. Photo: Felton Eccles
The 640 kilos this year saw Felton Eccles aiming for their 11th consecutive 640 kilos title, which would break the previous record of 10 consecutive titles set previously by Oxney Vines Cross, and equalled by Felton Eccles last year. The main threat to this challenge leading up to the championships appeared to come mainly from Bosley, Oxney and Lincoln. This weight category was a keenly contested competition, and was a hard fought out weight. Photo: Bosley
Other teams provided good opposition too, which came in the form of Hanging Bridge, Leek, Warbstow, Team Army, Hedge End and Sandhurst. Towards the end of the competition with three rounds to go, Bosley and Felton were both on level points, and then had to face each other. Felton upped their game for both ends and managed to hang on for long enough to overcome Bosley, but they still had two teams to pull before securing their title. They finished off against Lincoln, winning by 2 ends to 0 to secure their title. Photo: Norton
The 560 kilos was probably one on the most eagerly anticipated weights of the day. There were 7 teams entered. They were Leek, Hanging Bridge, Lincoln, Team Army, Sandhurst, Oxney and Norton. Again there was some very close pulling as Sandhurst looked to qualify to represent England to go and defend the world title they won in 2004. Both Sandhurst and Norton went through all of their pulls unbeaten to meet each other in the final pull, after Oxney secured the bronze. Photo: Sandhurst
This was one of the most eagerly anticipated pulls of the day, as many though that Norton would take the title from Sandhurst this time. The first end was a close, tight pull. Norton managed to pull Sandhurst close to the line, then both teams found themselves with two cautions each. After some hard battling Norton eventually brought Sandhurst over the line. The second end was equally as close, and both teams again found themselves on two cautions. Norton already had Sandhurst close to the line again, and after some frantic pulling, and lots of shouting from the spectators the whistle was blow and the title went to Norton, and both teams should be commended for giving us an excellent final. Photo: Hedge End
The 720 kilos had a smaller entry of teams this year, and Congleton were out again to defend their title, but faced a strong challenge from the other teams. Congleton started off with a win against Hedge End, and Bosley started with a well fought out win against Felton. Congleton went through all of their pulls unbeaten to secure their title, with Bosley winning the silver and Felton the bronze. Photo: Oxney Vines Cross
The 600 kilos was one of the biggest competitions of the day and was split into two groups. Again there was some good hard pulling in both groups. Group A consisted of Sandhurst, Felton, Hanging Bridge, Hedge End, Team Army and Leek, and Group 2 consisted of Oxney, Norton, Congleton, Holland Sports, Warbstow, Lincoln and Bosley. The teams that went through to the cross over were Felton and Sandhurst from group 1, and Oxney and Norton from group 2. Photo: Hanging Bridge
In the cross over, Felton met Norton, and Oxney met Sandhurst. Norton won their semi final by 2 ends to 0, and likewise Oxney won their semi final by 2 ends to 0. The bronze pull off took place first, which was a very competitive pull between Felton and Sandhurst, but Felton had that bit more and took the bronze medal by 2 ends to 0. The final saw Norton take on Oxney, who would have been considered as the two favourites for this weight. Oxney pulled very well over the two ends and retained their title against a very buoyant Norton team. Photo: Lincoln
The final weight of the day was the men’s 680 kilos, and was a full group and again was a keenly contested weight category. Congleton were the defending champions, but were up against tough competition from Felton and Bosley, as well as Sandhurst, Leek, Lincoln, Team Army, Hedge End, Oxney and Warbstow. Bosley were the strongest challengers at the start and met Congleton in the middle of the competition, and managed to defeat Congleton by 2 ends to 0. Felton were fast emerging through the competition and they too overcame Congleton. Felton and Bosley met in the final pull, and the first end was a closely fought match. Photo: Leek
The first end saw Bosley pile on the pressure, but Felton had to do a lot to try and stop it. After 3 minutes of closely fought pulling both teams were on two cautions, and then the judge blew the whistle and awarded the pull to Felton after giving Bosley their third caution. On the second end, Felton had a bit more than Bosley and pushed them to the line to take gold. The deciding pull for the bronze medal came between Congleton and Sandhurst, which was another keenly contested battle, which went to three ends. The first end was very close and both teams ended up on two cautions, when the judge blew the whistle and declared a no-pull. The re-start then saw both teams battle it out again and Congleton were blown out. The next end went exactly the same and Sandhurst secured the bronze medal. Photo: Warbstow
The ladies 560 kilos was the first weight of the ladies weight category of the day. Belvoir Vale were the 2005 champions at this weight category and were up against Sheen, Bedford, and Team Army. Belvoir Vale started off by defeating Team Army, but were defeated by Sheen on their second pull. Sheen went through the rest of the competition unbeaten to take their first ever ladies national outdoor gold medal, with Belvoir Vale securing silver after defeating Bedford who won bronze. Photo: Sheen Ladies
The final ladies weight was the 520 kilos, and the defending champions for this weight were Bedford. Bedford managed to hold onto their title, despite a strong challenge from Belvoir Vale and Sheen, with Sheen ladies taking the silver, and Belvoir Vale took the bronze with Team Army finishing in 4th place. Photo: Bedford Ladies
A big thank you to all of the teams who came along to the event who gave us an excellent days sport, as well as all of the officials and timekeeper/recorders and all of the other volunteers who helped to make the day a great success. A big thank you also to the team supporters and spectators too for coming along and supporting the event. Photo: Belvoir Vale Ladies
Photo: Army Ladies
Presentation of Medals
The pictures below show TOWA president Tony Martin presenting the medals and trophies to the medal winning teams
Award of Merit
The award of merit was presented to two great servants of tug of war at the national championships. They were presented to Sam Canning of Sandhurst tug of war club, and also to Paul Dolan of Lincoln tug of war club. Both men are well respected on the tug of war circuit both at home and abroad, and thoroughly deserve such awards.
Paul Dolan with his wife Doreen, being presented with the Award of Merit from TOWA president Tony Martin
Sam Canning with his wife Sandra being presented with his Award of Merit from TOWA president Tony Martin
