YEOVIL NEWS: Pull! Tug of War national championships coming to Johnson Park

YEOVIL NEWS: Pull! Tug of War national championships coming to Johnson Park

JOHNSON Park in Yeovil will be the venue next weekend for the National Outdoor Tug of War Championships.

The championships – held by the Tug of War Association – will be held on Saturday, June 20, 2015, at the park in Coronation Avenue.

Tug of war teams from all over England will be taking part in the event which will see teams competing for the gold, silver and bronze medals in men’s weight categories, ladies weight categories, and junior weight categories.

There will also be a mixed gender weight class up for grabs, with teams consisting of four men and four ladies each.

The event is being organised by the English Tug of War Association and the Somerset Army Cadet Force, who are based at JohnsonPark, and each tug of war team will consist of eight pullers.

The event is being organised in weight classes, with teams weighing in the night before the event. Each team is not allowed to exceed the weight limit for each weight class.

The winning teams from the different weight classes that are held at the national championships will go on to represent England at the European Outdoor Tug of War Championships, which take place in Northern Ireland in September.

Amongst the teams competing will be the Norton Tug of War Club from Staffordshire who won five of the six men’s weight classes on offer at the 2014 National Championships, as well as the silver medal representing England at the 2014 World Championships in the USA.

Local interest in the event will come from the Somerset Army Cadet Force Tug of War Club, who have their training base at JohnsonPark, and consist mainly of Yeovil competitors.

Somerset ACF also had a successful year in 2014, winning the national championship gold medals in the junior men 530kg and 560kg weight classes, and then went on to compete at GENSB Youth International Club Tournament where they finished eighth out of 50 clubs competing.YEOVIL NEWS: Pull! Tug of War national championships coming to Johnson Park

“We are very much looking forward to the national tug of war championships in Yeovil this year,” said TOWA spokesman Alan Knott.

“We will have teams that have won World and European Championship medals taking part at the event, which should make for a very exciting championship. English teams boast a proud record at international tug of war, with England having won many gold, silver and bronze medals over the past 50 years.

“The European outdoor tug of war championships take place in Belfast, Northern Ireland in September, so this event will be used to select the teams that represent England at the European Championships.”

The Tug of War Sport used to be organised by the Amateur Athletic Association in the early 1900's, but it was not until 1958 when The Tug of War Association was formed to organise the sport independently.

The sport was formerly a part of the Olympic programme until 1920, but was phased out along with other sports, such as Cricket and Rugby to reduce the number of competitors at the Olympics at that time. Great Britain are still the reigning Olympic champions at tug of war from those games held in 1920.

Alan said: “We hope some day that tug of war will once again be part of the Olympic programme, and we have recently learned that we will be a candidate sport for possible inclusion in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

“But there are a number of other sports with a greater media presence that we are up against, but we have our fingers crossed that we might be included.

“Tug of war is a true team sport and the ethics or determination, hard work, sportsmanship, and friendship are unrivalled in any other sport. We hope that people come along to watch the tug of war championship at Johnson’s Park to give all of our tug of war teams as much support as possible. We are sure that there are many in Yeovil that will come out and support their home team Somerset ACF.”

This will be the first time which the National Tug of War Championships has taken place in Yeovil, with the national tug of war championships taking place at a different location every year.

The championships on Saturday, June 20, 2015, start at 10am and will run throughout the day. Entrance to the event is free for spectators with a small charge for car parking.

For further information about the sport of tug of war, people are encouraged to visit the Tug of War Association web site at www.tugofwar.co.uk.

Tags:
News.