Medal success for Bosley Tug of War

Above: Bosley Tug of War team England squad with their bronze medals

This weekend Bosley Tug of War Club took part in the British and Irish Indoor Tug of War Championships which were hosted by the Tug of War Association in Malvern, Worcester.

The British and Irish Championships is an annual championship where representative teams from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland can enter up to two teams in each weight category. Bosley represented England “A” in the 600kg competition after winning that weight class at the English National Indoor Tug of War Championships that were held in December.

Most of the UK and Ireland Countries have a good track record at indoor tug of war over recent year winning many gold, silver and bronze medals at world championship level, which meant that picking up medals at this event would be a significant challenge, particularly for newer or more inexperienced teams. This was the first time for over 10 years that Bosley had represented England in an indoor competition and many of the competitors in the team this time around were doing indoor tug of war for the first time.

The team performed well in their England shirts and gained a huge amount of respect and credit for their performance, and despite not making the final, earned a bronze medal. The winners of the competition were Northern Ireland A, with Scotland A winning the silver medal.

Following the international competition, the team competed in the open club competitions, pulling as Bosley across 5 weight categories. It was another tough day of competition and although not finishing in the medal places in the mens weight classes, the team came away with a silver medal in the mixed 580kg competition (where teams consist of 4 men and 4 ladies in a team), losing out to Cornhill from Scotland in the final.

At the end of the 2019/20 indoor season, Bosley have finished up winning a gold and silver at the AAA indoor championships, two golds and a bronze at the English National Indoor Tug of War Championships and a silver and a bronze at the British and Irish Indoor Tug of War Championships.

“We have had a great season” commented club spokesman Alan Knott. “In the middle of last year, we only had 7 pullers so after a bit of a recruitment drive we managed to attract some new members of the summer which enabled us to compete on the indoor circuit and we have achieved some great results”.

“We can now look ahead to the 2020 outdoor season with optimism, however to continue our successful start to the year, we do need to continue to recruit new members to enable us to compete strongly across the various different weight divisions at forthcoming tug of war championships, and we actively encourage anyone looking to get involved in a team sport to get in touch with us and give tug of war a go. In particular, we would like to see more women joining our team so that we can compete in mixed and ladies competitions as well”.

To find out more about how you can join the team, you can contact Alan on 07976 591222 or you can e-mail alan_p_knott@hotmail.com. Alternatively you can make contact via social medal (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) by searching for @bosleytugofwar.