Triangular Services Tug Of War Championships
| The best of the Combined Police Forces, Combined Armed Services and Civil Service converged on Essex for the rescheduled Championships. All of the teams had lost men because of the move from the traditional July date, but the Police and Armed Services still had very strong sides out as part of their preparations for the European Championships on 20 September. In the first event the Police had a huge advantage. In the Catchweight there is no upper weight limit and the heaviest Civil Service team weighed 670 Kg. The Police on the other hand came in at a whopping 867 Kg. The CS team were too good for the other teams but couldn't hold on to the Police and had to settle for a silver medal. The 600Kg event was a very close affair with the keenly contested matches all round. The CS men beat Armed Services B and Police before having a real battle with the Armed Services A. Unfortunately a couple of slips meant that they had to settle for silver again. The 640 Kg is normally the most competitive event and this year was no exception. The Armed Services team comprised the winners and runners up from last weekend's Braemar Highland Games, while the Police had a good London Met side. The CS team comprised a number of Scottish and English Internationals and they proved their pedigree straight away by hanging on to a vicious onslaught by the Army team. The Army's attack took them almost the whole way to the line but the CS hung in there and defended stoutly until the Army were disqualified for three fouls. In the second end the CS men blasted the Army out from the drop. This was a pivotal moment in the competition and none of the other teams got close to the Civil Service and they claimed their first gold medal of the day. The final event was the 680 Kg and the CS guys were now on a roll. Although they were the lightest team they steamrollered the opposition to take the gold medal without dropping a point. At the end of the day the Civil Service team reflected on a good day's work that had seen them finish with two gold and two silver medals, a feat achieved with the smallest and lightest squad of all the services. They team can now look forward to next years event hosted by the Combined Armed Services at the Royal Signals in Bamford, Dorset. |
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