2019 Cheshire Open Championships Results
Click to add an engaging title. High quality The 2019 Cheshire Open Tug of War Championships took place at the Cheshire Game and Angling Fair at Peover Hall and Park near Knutsford. Despite all of the recent wet weather experienced in the north of the country, the event went ahead as planned, the weather stayed dry and the ground conditions were good, allowing all of the teams taking part an opportunity to put on a good demonstration of tug of war for the crowds that gathered throughout the day. All of the weight classes were pulled as a straight points competition with the top two teams progressing through to a final.
The Men 640kg and Ladies 560kg were the first competitions of the day.
Photo: Bedford Ladies
The mens 640kg competition saw Lincoln and Upper Eden have a tough battle first one which went 1-1, and Lincoln then went 1-1 with Oxney in the second round. There was further good competition in this weight class, and when all of the points were added up, Upper Eden and Lincoln progressed to the final. In the final, Upper Eden won a hard fought match by 2 ends to 0.
Photo: Upper Eden Men
The ladies 560kg competition saw teams have some good ends against each other. Oxney Ladies and Upton Ladies went 1-1 in their first match, and Bedford Ladies defeated Upper Eden in their first pull. Bedford progressed through the group unbeaten, followed by Haldon Ladies with both of those teams competing again in the final. In the final, both teams pulled good ropes, however Bedford continued their fine form to take the final by 2 ends to 0.
Photo: Haldon Ladies
The mens catchweight was another keenly contested weight category with Norton defeating Bosley in the first round, and Lincoln and Felton having a really close pull first on which went 1-1, with both of these teams representing England A and B teams in the 680kg competition at the British and Irish Championships next weekend, both were keen to get the psychological advantage. After all of the group pulls, Norton finished top, with Lincoln and Felton tied for second place. When the TWIF criteria was applied, Felton progressed ahead of Lincoln to meet Norton in the final. Both teams had a good battle in the final, with Norton having the edge and winning the gold medal by 2 ends to 0.
Photo: Bosley
The ladies 520kg competition saw a full group of 6 teams taking part, and it was another good competition which included, Upton, Bedford, Haldon, Oxney, Upper Eden and the Under 23 development squad. Bedford Ladies progressed through the group, only losing an end to Haldon, and Haldon also progressed to the final. In another close match between these two teams, Bedford won their second weight by 2 ends to 0.
Photo: Upton Ladies
The mens 600kg competition followed, and again there was some good competition. Upper Eden won the first match of the competition against Bosley, and Oxney and Lincoln also had a good battle first on. The top two teams after the end of the group stage were Lincoln and Upper Eden who progressed to the final. It was a good match up between these two teams and one of the most closely contested finals of the day, which Lincoln edged out by 2 ends to 0 to win the gold medal.
Photo: Lincoln
The mixed 600kg then took place. Upper Eden defeated Bosley in the first match, and Holland defeated the Under 23 development team in the other first round match. Bosley and Holland had a very close pull in the second round which Bosley won by 2 ends to 0. Bosley and Upper Eden progressed to the final which Upper Eden won by 2 ends to 0.
The final two weights of the day were the mens 680kg and Ladies 540kg.
Photo: Holland Mixed Team
The ladies 540kg saw Bedford and Haldon Ladies top the group rounds again ahead of the other teams, and they contested another good final. Bedford rounded off the day with another good performance in the final to win the gold medal and make it a clean sweep of ladies titles for the day.
Photo: Upper Eden Ladies
The mens 680kg gave us a good competition to finish on with some good tough pulls. In the first round, Lincoln and Felton went 1-1 as did the match between Bosley and Holland, whilst Norton defeated Upper Eden. There was some good close matches elsewhere in the competition, and during the group stages, Lincoln and Felton had another good battle, which Felton won by 2 ends to 0. At the end of the group stage, Norton topped the group, with Felton progressing in second place. Both of these teams contested a good final, which Norton won by 2 ends to 0 to win their second weight of the day.
Photo: Norton
Well done to all of the teams that took part and gave us a good day of tug of war and put on a good show for the crowds.
Thanks also to the officials on the day - Tony Henshaw, Gavin Corden, Ray Fray-Smith, Mick Grimston, John Gracie, Roger Beardsmore, Pete Dyer, David Hamer, Wendy Dyer, Caroline Abri, and Adele Hamer
Finally, we would like to wish all of the teams representing England at the British and Irish Championships next weekend the very best of luck.
Photo: Felton Eccles
