The 2013 National Championships are in the record books! The competition was held July 20, 2013 in Monroe Wisconsin. The event was sponsored by Colony Brands, Mt Vernon TOW, Green County Fair and RTG Racing and USATOWA. The event was held in conjunction with the Green County Fair.
The day started with the Men's CTWT division. The class had 6 entries. The heaviest team weighing in at 797 kilos (Guether's) and the lightest being 706 kilos (Oregon). The first match of the day boasted a three end match between the eventual 2013 National CTWT Champion - DJ's TOWC of Lakeville MN and long time National Champion Mt Vernon TOWC of Mt Vernon Wisconsin. The class pulled for one hour and 2 minutes. Medals were presented to DJ's -Gold, Guether's - Silver and Mt Vernon -bronze.
The next weight class contested - the Women's CTWT. Three teams competed in the class. DJ's - the eventual winners of the class represent Lakeville MN. The silver medalist Girls Love Dirt hails from Brooklyn Wisconsin. The third place team is from Oregon Wisconsin. Times of the pulls varied from 14 seconds to 54 seconds. Weights varied from 536 kilos to 579 kilos. The class was pulled for 39 minutes.
The Men's 700 kilo weight class had six team entries. The weight class was pulled in an hour and 9 minutes. The longest pull of the weight class was between PowerTrain TOWC and DJ's TOWC. The time was 1:46. Mt Vernon won the weight class with a perfect score of 15. The silver medalist - Guither's Tree Service of Princeton Illinois placed second with 12 points and the bronze medalist DJ's won 9 points.
The men's 640 kilo weight class was pulled off in one hour and 13 minutes. The class had a couple 3 end matches. PowerTrain Rockstars was involved in both matches. The longest pull of the weight class was 2 minutes and 26 seconds and again, PowerTrain Rockstars was involved in the match. Gold medal winners Mt Vernon accumulated 15 points. Silver Medalist - Guither's Tree Service - 12 points and Bronze medalist DJ's TOWC - 8 points.
Mt Vernon Tug of War Club was awarded the Len Hughes Memorial trophy. The trophy is given yearly to winners of the 640 kilo class at Nationals. Congratulations to Mt Vernon. Len would have been proud!
The next weight class contested was the women's 540 kilo. The longest end was one minute and eleven seconds between PowerTrain and Oregon. Time of the weight class 46 minutes. The Gold medalist - DJ's TOWC, Silver Medalist - Girls Love Dirt and new comers PowerTrain won the bronze medal.
Men's Under 23 weight class had two entries. The eventual winners PowerTrain TOWC of Greeley Iowa weighed in at 600 kilos. The match was competed in 5 minutes. Gold medalist - PowerTrain, Silver Medalist - DJ's TOWC.
The men's 580 kilo weight class had 4 teams. A three end match again included DJ's and PowerTrain. The class was competed in 36 minutes. Weights varied from 476 to 578 kilos. The longest pull of the day (2:15) was between the eventual Gold medal winners Mt Vernon and Silver medalist DJ's Red. The bronze medalist team was DJ's Gray.
The Women's 500 kilo weight class had three entries. The class was pulled off in 34 minutes. The longest match of the weight class was between PowerTrain and DJ's with a time of 1:15. Gold medal winners of the class DJ's, Silver medalist - Girls Love Dirt and Bronze medalist - PowerTrain.
The novice (under 2 years pulling experience) 600 kilo open had 3 entries. A three ender ensued again between DJ's TOWC and PowerTrain! Longest pull of the weight class was won by PowerTrain at 1:31. Gold Medalist - DJ's, Silver Medalist - PowerTrain and Bronze medalist - Mt Vernon.
The largest class of the day was Co-ed with 7 teams entered. The class was pulled last in the line up of 10 weight classes. The class was pulled off in one hour and 17 minutes. The longest end of the weight class was 2 minutes and 3 seconds. The shortest match (2 ends) was 36 seconds. The perpetual winners (combination of Girls Love Dirt and Mt Vernon) of the Gold medal - Mt Vernon Gold, Silver Medals - DJ's Gray, Bronze medals to DJ's Red.
A special thanks to the teams of USATOWA for helping make the tournament run smoothly. The event had 87 matches of rope pulled and we accomplished the feat in just 6 hours! Great job everyone!
The judges of the event : Chief Judge - Harold (Tiny) Heindel, Larry Heindel, Herb Warren, Brenda Frary and Ken Douglas. Of course nothing would go smoothly if we did not have the secretaries working hard behind the scenes. Thanks to Tournament Secretary: Lisa Heindel, USATOWA Secretary - Shannon Davis, and timekeeper Diane Heindel.
Last, but not least and definitely not forgotten, our ever popular announcer Rudy Kopp.
Tim Scott of the Guither's Tree Service designed this years t-shirts and Jennifer Kramer of the Oregon TOWC sold all but one size small t-shirt. Thanks Tim and Jen!!
Our sponsors this year were Colony Brands of Monroe Wisconsin, RTG Racing, Mt Vernon Tug of War Club and Green County fair. A big THANKS to Joe Hunter of Colony Brands. USATOWA and it's members appreciates all you do for our sport.
Photos will be available soon on facebook and in the next USATOWA newsletter.
That's a wrap for the 2013 USATOWA National Championship.
