Cumbrians represent England in worldwide Tug of War competitions

The England Juniors Tug of War team are hoping to achieve podium status as they head to Germany to compete in GENSB 2023 International Youth Tug of War tournament.

It is the first of two worldwide competitions the team is taking part in August, with them also travelling to the World Championship in Switzerland.

The team trains in Tebay and Carlisle and is made up of six pullers, many of them hailing from Cumbria but some travelling from as far as Buckinghamshire.

Using rigs, pulleys and even a local farmer's tractor, each puller in the team is trained  to control at least their own bodyweight, with some members towing up to 150% of their share.

On Sunday 20 August, they'll go up against Holland, Switzerland, Belgium and Germany at the GENSB competition in Mannheim.

Head coach Joe Birch said: "This team has just grown arms and legs it's fantastic. Some of the girls in particular.

"We took three girls on this time who'd never done tug of war before. We started training in December. We were short of girls to go on a tour of South Africa and then we did ten weeks of high intensity training, went with a squad of nine to South Africa and they won the South African championships.

"There must have been 20 to 25 teams and our girls came top so I do believe that both teams will win medals."

Lucy Capper is one of the pullers. She said: "Honestly it's a great feeling, it's such a good opportunity. You feel almost blessed to have opportunity because there's so many people to pick from and for me to be able to get it, that's just a great opportunity."

After the GENSB 2023 tournament, the team will travel to Switzerland to compete in the 2023 Tug Of War World Outdoor Championship which begins on 31 August.

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