The first ever tug of war County Championships were held in the Brantry Bard County Tyrone on Saturday 5th September 09.
This was a joint effort by the senior clubs, Leo`s boys from Benburb and Fairywater from Omagh and ably put together with a little help from Leo McKeever from the Brantry who organised sponsors and raised approximately £450-00 for a cancer charity.
Seven clubs took part in all, Leo`s Boys, Fairywater, Brantry, Carrickmore, The Rock, Gortin and Pomeroy. First up was a Novice competition and Rock beat a much fancied Gortin in the final, Carrickmore, with many changed faces on the squad, started to come good at the end but just missed the final. Pomeroy were missing many of their regulars and were a bit on the light side to make a lasting impression on this occasion.
Next was a 600kg competition where the senior clubs weighed in at 600kg and the new clubs had a 50kilo advantage, Rock pulled out of this one being exhausted after their Novice final, Carrickmore pulled with seven men and there was always only going to be one final and that was Leo`s and Fairywater and the Omagh boys were very much the stronger team on this day.
A six a side ladies was scheduled as well but on the day there was only one team from the Brantry and therefore no competition.
The final weight had all seven clubs enter and it was pulled on a round robin basis with the top four in the final pull off. Leaders on the day were Leo`s with 16 points, Fairywater with 14 and joint third were Gortin and Rock. Fairywater beat Gortin but in the other semi the Rock pulled hard to take an end off Leo`s and their second scalp of the day, because they had an end off Fairywater earlier . The final was relatively easy for the Tyrone Champions for 2009, Fairywater.
Tug of war was the winner on this day and a great competition enjoyed by all participants and spectators, lets hope this is not the last County Championship we see in N Ireland. I would not be at all surprised to see clubs like Carrickmore, Gortin and the Rock at next years U K Championships to be held in N Ireland.
The indoor season is about to get underway with a pull at Portadown on 19th Sept. Looks like we have a few more indoor teams this year, Gortin and Bancran making plans for that to happen.
European Championships 2009
Lets wish Bancran and Garvagh good luck when they represent N Ireland at the European Championships in the 600kg and 640kg next week in Assen Holland. I was at a training session last Friday night and coach,s Peter Doherty, Mick Bradley and Hugh Heron deserve a lot of credit for the job they are doing bringing our boys up to World Championship level, and don`t forget about Derryogue in the Opens. Blowing the whistle for us is Hughie Mc Fetridge and Derick Smit and we have Davy Wilson in the wings out there as well. The N Ireland fan club consists of Jimmy Burns, Patrick Kernan, Walter Milligan and possibly a little help from Draperstown. |
