Vice Chair hosts reception for the Country Club Tug of War Team

Recently the Vice Chair of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, Councillor Allan Rainey MBE, hosted a reception for the Country Club Tug of War Team who also represented Northern Ireland at the the Indoor Tug of War Championships.

The following is a copy of the speech delivered by the Vice Chair at the reception:

Fellow Councillors, ladies and gentlemen

As Vice Chair of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, I am delighted to welcome you all here to the Townhall, Enniskillen this evening for this reception in honour of the Country Club Tug of War Team who also represented Northern Ireland at the Indoor World Tug of War Championships 2023.

The Indoor Tug of War Championships were held in the Jim Baker Stadium, Templepatrick from 08-11 March 2023 and this was the first time in the history of the sport that the event has been hosted in Northern Ireland.

There were teams competing from China, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Chinese Taipei, The Netherlands, Nigeria and Basque Country.

The first day saw you compete as a Club in the 600kg Open class and you successfully beat a Basque Team to retain the title.  You had previously won this title in 2012 in Scotland, 2014 in Castlebar and 2020 in Letterkenny.

On day 2 you competed in the 560kg Open class hoping to retain the title, however, in the semi-final you lost out to the Basque team who you had already beaten.  You qualified for the play-off match and claimed the bronze medal after defeating a team from Ireland.

Day 3 of the competition was your opportunity to represent Northern Ireland in the Closed classes.  First up was the 600kg in which you had successfully defeated another Basque Team.  This was followed by the 640kg class where you emerged in third place in the Group, defeated Scotland in the semi-final and unfortunately lost out in the final to Ireland.  However, you lifted a very credible Silver medal.

Six of the team then competed in the 560kg class for Northern Ireland defeating Chinese Taipei b y 2-0 in the qualifying and Basque Country in the final.

In total you successfully claimed three Gold, one Silver and one Bronze medals.  I understand this was the first time Northern Ireland has won Gold in the 600kg of the World Indoor Championships and no country has ever won the 600kg in both the Open and the Closed classes in the history of the event.

The Country Club was established by members of the local farming community with members from Enniskillen, Kesh, Lisnarick, Irvinestown, Ballinamallard and Ballygawley.  Over the last ten years you have competed in the Northern Ireland Tug of War Association representing Northern Ireland at National, International and World level.

I understand a key element of Tug of War is training to build strength and learn how to work well together as a team.  Your commitment to training is to be admired as you juggle this alongside work and family commitments.

On behalf of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, and on my own behalf, I would like to commend each member of the Country Club and your coach, Sean Colton, for your outstanding performance and achievements in the Indoor World Championships.  You have done yourselves, your family and friends, your County, your District and your country proud.

I would like to wish continued success in the years ahead.

Thank you.