CONGLETON TUG OF WAR CLUB The club was formed in 2002 primarily of ex Bosley Wood Treatment pullers and very kindly given a new home at Smithy Farm, Buglawton, Congleton the home of the Nixon family. Congleton is known throughout the area as “Bear Town” hence the roaring bear logo on the team’s kit.

CONGLETON - BEAR TOWN

As any one knows setting up a new club is not easy. It’s not just the case of “pick up the rope, take the strain, PULL” there is a lot of unseen background work to be taken care of. The lads set about clearing the ground, building a block with a shelter along with designing a new kit and getting sponsors before the season even began. All done, the team set sail training in earnest with new coach (new to Congleton) Billy Reilly at the helm. With a small squad the Nationals came around all to quickly and the decision was made to sacrifice the traditional Catch weight and go for the top three representative weights hoping one of them would bring success and representative honours. On the day Congleton were just not strong enough and came away with three silver medals, a great achievement in the clubs first year but not what was hoped for. Never the less the club qualified to represent England at 680kg as Felton Eccles won 640kg and 680kg and as the English Tug of War Association do not allow clubs to represent their country at more than one weight Felton elected to represent England at 640kg giving Congleton their much needed chance.

2002 FOUNDER MEMBERS WITH THE UK 680KG TROPHY

This spurred the club on and training on the block increased and tractor pulling was introduced for fitness which seemed to pay off as the club went on to win both AAA’s Catch weight and 640kg titles at Sheen along with the prestigious Inter Counties 640kg Roman Shield (a photo of which can be seen in the achievements page) in Paignton Devon. Congleton went to Northern Ireland to represent England at 680kg and came away victorious undefeated. The open clubs were on immediately after the closed 680kg and the lads literally pulled off their England shirts, made a couple of changes and went straight into a tough 640kg competition where they came away with the silver medal narrowly loosing to Boley who were fresh having not pulled in the closed competition. The squad trained hard and went to South Africa with great hopes for the closed 680kg competition but things did not go to plan. A decision was made not to pull in the open clubs competition, which in hindsight may have cost the club, as we were not well enough prepared for the heat, altitude and hard ground. Congleton representing England finished a creditable but never the less to us a disappointing 6th. Unfortunately Sandhurst 560kg, Felton Eccles 640kg and St Pat’s 720kg could not make it into the last four either and this honour was left to the Kilroe girls who missed out on bronze finishing a great 4th. So the team finished the season in South Africa to reflect on a very difficult but successful first year. The indoors were soon upon us and several members of the club competed once again with Kilroe and Norton and went on to win National, AAA’s and UK honours having won World Indoor titles the previous year. 2003 saw Congleton gain a few more pullers, and the club went on to win it's first national titles, wining gold in the 680, 720 and catchweight events, and also gained silver in the 640 event at the national championships held in Manchester, giving Congleton the choice of representing England at either 680 or 720 at the European Championships. Congleton elected to represent England at 720kg in the forthcoming European Championships in Holland as well as 680kg in the UK Championships. All was not to go to plan again with key experienced pullers work commitments, injuries and retirements. Congleton were unable to hold onto their Inter Counties title which went to a very good Norton team and their AAA’s titles went to Norton and St Pats. Congleton finished runners up in the UK closed 680kg competition to Felton Eccles who were representing England “B”. On the days all the teams were better than Congleton and the club felt very frustrated knowing with a fully fit trained up squad maybe things could have been different. A ray of light came for the club at the UK clubs competition where some of the other lads were given a chance where they performed really well and despite the odds won the Catch weight and came runners up in the 680kg. Lots of smiley faces for a change ! Holland lay on the horizon and the 16 strong squad travelled overland with great hopes.

NATIONALS CATCHWGHT 720KG 680KG - UK680KG - AAA'S CATCHWGHT 640KG - INTER COUNTIES 640KG

The only disappointing part of Holland for the club was that they were denied the chance to pull in the open 720kg competition as the English Association would not allow any puller to pull in more than one open weight if they were to represent their country. This was to be the case even though there was a days rest in between. This left some of the pullers with nothing to do but watch as this was to be their only pull and the club had to withdraw from the 720kg competition. Congleton, however competed well in the open club 680 kilos event, finishing in 4th place, losing out to Boley from Ireland for the bronze. In the 720 kilos closed event, and after a shaky start, Congleton, representing England, came through the group to reach the last 4. In the semi-finals, England defeated Ireland to meet Holland in the final. Holland were the defending champions, and a class act at 680 and 720, and despite a valliant effort, Congleton came away with well earned silver medal.

PROUD COACH DAVE GILL WITH THE NATIONAL CATCHWEIGHT - 720KG - 680KG TROPHIES + 640KG RUNNERS UP CUP

2004 has been another year of mixed fortunes for the club. It has seen the club once again retain the national titles, which it won last year, as well as adding a 560 national bronze to the haul. The team aslo regained the AAA's catchweight title, as well as the 640 inter counties title. The club was proud this year to win its first ever world title at catchweight at the world championships in the USA but were disappointed at not getting a medal in the closed 720, finishing in 4th place. The team will be looking forward to 2005 where the club has the honour of representing England at the world games in Germany, which is held every 4 years.

UK OPEN CLUBS 2003 WINNERS CATCHWEIGHT + RUNNERS UP 680KG

2005 saw the club loose valuable key members of the squad but excuses could not be made and a job had to be done. Up to the Natinals the club never seemed to be able to field the same side two weeks running and every one outside the club was predicting doom and gloom for the club. On the day however things went our way as we won the top 3 weights for the third year running which is a new record. It was frustrating for some of the team not to enter the 640 but on the day it looked like the right decision was made. Gold followed for the AAA's catch weight but it was dissapointing not being able to defend the Inter Counties title. The UK's in Scotland was warming up to be cracker with the club only having won one 680 (the Nationals) all year. Many were predicting the trophy would go to Bosley but on the day the club got the bigger team in and despite a last minute injury to "118" Graham Congleton went through to the final undefeated where they met and defeated a spirited welsh team to win the UK title for England. On to Germany and the World Games where the club had the honour of representing Great Britain at 680kg. The opening ceremony saw the lads parade in front of an amazing 35,000 people with fireworks, ticker tape and singing. It reaaly was a magical experience and one we will never forget. In intense heat and on very sandy ground the Club came home in 6th place despite pulling really well. Next was Cento, Italy where the club was to represent England at 720kg. In hind sight due to injuries and abscences the club would have been better going 680 but the decision had been made earlier and the 720 it was to be. With a very mixed changed and untried team the club got off to a great start to go 1-1 with the Swiss. It was all veryclose and it was going to be between us and Ireland who went through to the semi finals with the Swiss, Dutch and Swedes. The Germans did us a huge favour against Ireland then we beat the Germans to go through. But the teams were to strong in the semi's and despite a spirited performance we finished in fourth place which on the day was better than we had hoped for. So the season was quite mixed but 3 National golds. AAA's and UK gold and fourth in Europe can not be counted as anything but a succesful year. 2006 - this year was a real tough year for the club, having lost more pullers to retirements. The club struggled on, and managed to come away with gold in the 720 kilos and catchweight at the national championships, as well as finishing 4th in the 680. The club then went on to win silver at the AAA's championships at catchweight and also won a bronze medal at the national league finals at 680 kilos. The club went to Holland to represent England at 720 kilos at the world championships. Despite our best efforts, we only managed to finish in 9th place, which was a disappointing result for the club, but the club hopes to rebuild for next year.

WEB SITE MANAGER GLYN JONES