Harriet Benjamin (Upper Sixth) rounded off a whirlwind summer by competing for England Junior Women’s at the British and Irish Outdoor Tug of War Championships at Swansea University.

For the first time since before the pandemic, there was a junior competition. Harriet competed in the 6-a-side 390kg competition and won a hard-fought bronze medal. Following this success, Harriet competed in the World Championships in Holten, the Netherlands where they gained another bronze place.

Harriet reflected on her experience: “I started doing tug of war at the beginning of March this year with young farmers as part of our YFC rally prep. Following a win at our rally our team qualified for nationals against the other top YFC clubs. We therefore started training with Bedford ladies Tug of War as a way to challenge ourselves and to learn from their coach. In the summer, a trial for the England squad was hosted at the training grounds so as it was local I decided to go. I was selected to take part in the British and Irish Championships in Swansea. I represented England in the closed competition in the Junior Women’s category and we achieved 3rd place. We also competed as a club in the open category and the junior women achieved another bronze and then in a mixed team (4 girls and 4 boys) we came 1st.

“Following this I was then selected to take part in the World Championships last week in Holland. This was an amazing opportunity to compete against the best teams in the world as well as getting to support other England teams competing in senior teams. The first two days of the competition were open categories which meant we competed against various teams from around the world. In the junior women’s, we achieved 4th place. Then the last two days were closed meaning we were competing as an England team again, this time we were determined to come away with a medal having got so close in the open category. It was a very tough competition, however, we put our all in and took ends off all of the other teams. Unfortunately, we just missed out on the gold,/silver final. So, had the bronze final instead, we were all exhausted but very determined and gave it everything, winning both ends earning us a Bronze medal for England at a World Championship!”