Carlisle tug of war gold medal winner’s years of ‘sacrifice’

A tug of war champion said his success in the sport took more than 16 years of “sacrifice and discipline”.

Joe Birch, from Carlisle, was part of the British team that won gold at the World Games in Chengdu, China, at the weekend.

He said the number of young farmers’ clubs in Cumbria encouraged people to get into the sport and helped his team to victory.

Mr Birch, who is a joiner, said taking part was completely self-funded, and paying for travel and training made the win seem “even more deserved”.

More than 100 countries took part in more than 250 events – which included ten-pin bowling, drone racing and sumo wrestling.

“Winning the gold meant the world, it’s the pinnacle of our sport, but it doesn’t just happen over night,” Mr Birch said.

“I’ve been doing tug of war for 16 years and it’s years of sacrifice and discipline to get to that level and it started with training with young farmers.

“It’s the biggest youth platform – 90% of pullers in England come from young farmers.”

He also said players had to fund the sport themselves as there was no government or agency support.

Great Britain defeated Switzerland at the Dong’an Lake Sport Park to claim gold in the 640kg (1,411lbs) outdoor Tug of War final with a 3-0 pull.

A spokesman for the games said: “It was not surprising these two were in the gold medal match, what was eye-catching was the margin considering both nations have been neck-and-neck in the top two for several years.”

Mr Birch added: “Taking time off work, training and paying to travel to games in England and abroad makes the medal feel even more well deserved, it wasn’t handed to us.”

Tug of war was an Olympic event between 1900 and 1920, with Great Britain winning gold twice, in 1908 and 1920.