Congleton tug of war club were competing at the European Outdoor Tug of War Championships from 19-24 September 2007.The team were to represent England at 720 kilos, as well as entering teams to compete in the open club event.
Congleton copeted in the 720 kilos event, but the team did not perform well enough, and failed to make it through to the knock out competition.
For the closed event, the team was able to weigh in on the Thursday prior to the team competing on Sunday, which enabled the team to get plenty of rest and aloowed the team to eat propoerly in the build up to representing England. This was a first at international level, as teams last year would have to weigh in on the morning of the competition.
Sunday came along, and having borrowed two pullers from Norton (Dave Calcutt and Dave Field) to strengthen the team, Congleton, Representing England, started off with some strong performances against Ireland and Holland and won both pulls by 2 ends to 0 to give the team a great start to the competition. The team continued to dominate this weight category, and went on the the semi-finals without losing an end.
In the semi-finals, England were drawn against Germany the 2006 world bronze medallists at this weight. England set about the Germans as they had done with other teams in the group, and stormed into the final with a 2 ends to 0 win.
England met current world champions Switzerland in the final, and again were too strong for their opponents and won the gold with a fine 2 ends to 0 Victory.
It was a fantastic acheivement for the club to win this event, and enabled us to put behind us the disappointing performance in Assen in 2006, and also proved many people who had written us off wrong.
The club would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who supported us in Minehead, and we congratulate all of the England teams and clubs for making this one of the best European Championships for many years for England teams.
