Success for Bosley’s young pullers

A contingent of junior (under 18) and under 23 pullers from Bosley Tug of War Club have just returned from Holten, The Netherlands after being selected to represent England at the World Tug of War Championships.

It was a successful weekend for the group, with the teams they were part of coming away with high placings, including some silver and bronze medals. The event included two days of open club competitions with the top clubs from around the world taking part, and  this was followed by two days of international competition with representative teams from 20 nations taking part. 

Junior pullers Joe Hulme, Jedd Hall and George Large competed in both the open club competition and the junior world championships. In the open club competition, they were part of the Upper Eden club team and missed out on progressing to the semi finals but gained valuable experience on the way. In the junior mixed competition (where teams each comprise 4 junior men and 4 junior ladies), George was in the Upper Eden A team and Jedd and George were part of the Upper Eden B team.

The B team placed 6^th in the competition, but the A team progressed to the semi-finals where they were defeated by a Swellendam from South Africa. In the bronze medal match they met Ayrshire from Scotland, and in a thrilling match, which went to three ends, Upper Eden won the bronze medal and George came away from the club championships with a world championships bronze medal.  

In the international Junior competition, the England Juniors went on to finished in 6^th position overall, and for their first international experience, this was a great result for the juniors. The international competition was won by South Africa with Chinese Taipei winning silver and Netherlands the bronze. 

In the under 23 competitions, the team had Zoe Brocklehurst and Ellie Platt competing with the England under 23 ladies and Harry Large, Greg Large, Tom Whilock, Alfie Waring, Rob Clark and Ewan Hay competing with the England under 23 men.  

The England under 23 men were all pullers competing on the Tug of War Association circuit for the first time this year and were taking part at their first world championships. It was a tough experience for the team and in the international competition the team finished in 10^th position overall. 

The men and ladies did join forces in the under 23 mixed 560kg competition where they had a much better performance in finishing a creditable 5^th overall. 

Whilst the under 23 men missed out on a medal, that was not the case for the under 23 ladies who had a fantastic event. In the open club competition, Zoe and Ellie competed with the England Under 23 squad who entered the competition as Cheadle, and they put in a great performance to reach the semi final where they lost a close fought match with Goudini from South Africa by 2 ends to 1, so they went on to face Goiherri from the Basque Country for bronze. This was another tough match which went to three ends, this time, the English girls taking a hard fought bronze medal in a very exciting match. 

In the international competition, the England under 23 ladies stepped up and again reached the semi-finals. In this match, England met Switzerland. In the group rounds, Switzerland defeated England by 2 ends to 0, but in the semi-finals England raised their game to smash it out the park and convincingly beat Switzerland to reach the final. In the final, England met the formidable team from Chinese Taipei and despite a valiant effort lost the final by 2 ends to 0, taking home the silver medal and in the process, making history as the first England under 23 ladies team to win a medal of any colour at the World Championships.  

“we are very proud to have had 11 junior and under 23 pullers selected to represent England this year” commented club spokesman Alan Knott. 

“it has taken a lot of hard work to get the pullers to a World Championships and to see some of them walk away with medals from the event is amazing”. 

“Our members behaved impeccably and were outstanding all week. They can be very proud of themselves and it has been a privilege to watch them all develop and see them get so far”.  

“We can’t wait to see what else they can do in the years ahead” 

Bosley Tug of War Club won’t have too much rest as they will soon be turning their attention to the Tug of War Association indoor tug of war season with competitions starting at the end of October. The club is always looking for new members, male and female of any age, to come along and get involved with the club. Anyone interested in giving tug of war a go can contact club secretary Alan Knott by phone/WhatsApp on 07976591222 or you can find Bosley Tug of War Club on Facebook an Instagram by searching for @bosleytugofwar.