THE CATOWA

Arva, ON - Sept. 1, 2003

In addition to the regular sanctioned competitions at the annual highland games such as Embro, Cambridge and Fergus, Co-Ed events have been a focus of smaller venues this summer within the Ontario League.

The season got underway on June 8th with the annual Bread & Honey Festival in Streetsville. The Peel Regional Police dominated the day's events in 4 of the 6 weight divisions to set the pace for what is turning out to be perhaps their most successful season ever. Their closest competition came from the always dangerous Bluewater team from Dashwood who won the other 2 divisions. Perhaps the team catching the most attention at that event however, was a rejuvenated Zorra club. They showed that day that they had what it takes to be a contender by finishing 3rd in the men's 720K class.

RESULTS:
Women's 520K
1. Peel Regional Police | 2. Bluewater

Women's 560K
1. Peel Regional Police | 2. Bluewater | 3. Toronto Highlanders

Women's Catchweight
1. Peel Regional Police | 2. Bluewater | 3. Nissouri | 4. Toronto Highlanders

Men's 680K
1. Bluewater | 2. South Easthope | 3. Peel Regional Police | 4. Nissouri

Men's 720K
1. Bluewater | 2. South Easthope | 3. Zorra | 4. Peel Regional Police | 5. Toronto Highlanders

The community of Innerkip which is located east of Woodstock, Ontario, hosted the next tournament on June 28th at the Lion's Park in the small Oxford County village. It was part of the week-end activities which had been planned to celebrate the community's 150th birthday. Although it was only open to 4 teams by invitation, the 3 men's and 3 women's teams provided some exciting matches for the large crowd that gathered to see the event. In the end it was Nissouri that won the women's division and the local team from Zorra who finished first in the men's catchweight class.

RESULTS:
Women's Catchweight
1. Nissouri | 2. South Easthope | 3. Zorra

Men's Catchweight
1. Zorra | 2. Nissouri | 3. South Easthope

On July 1st the annual Embro Highland Games was held at the fair grounds in the small Oxford County village. The main feature of the event under the sponsorship of Lafarge Cement, a local industry, are the tug-of-war championships which commemorate the victory of the "Mighty Men of Zorra", a team won the world championship in Chicago in 1893. A perfect summer day brought out the crowd of thousands, most of whom followed the competitions with the high school events in the morning, followed by the men's 720K and Co-Ed divisions. Perhaps the greatest excitement of the day came with the local team's first place finish in the 720K championship. The afternoon's program featured the men's and women's catchweight classes with the Peel Regional Police continuing to show their dominance this season by finishing first in both.

RESULTS:
Men's 720K
1. Zorra | 2. South Easthope | 3. Bluewater | 4. Ellice | 5. Peel Regional Police

Co-Ed
1. Bluewater | 2. South Easthope | 3. Nissouri | 4. Toronto Highlanders

The numbers were up for the 58th Fergus Scottish Festival and Highland Games, according to the festival’s executive director, Dorothy McCabe. Although hard-and-fast tallies weren’t available, she estimated about 34,000 people attended the weekend’s events at the Fergus Community Centre. “People who have been here for years said they’ve never seen so many,” McCabe said Monday. “The place was an absolute jam.” The weather co-operated for the most part, she said, although there was a downpour on Saturday night after the venue closed, and again early Sunday morning.

The Annual Tug-of-War tournament brought thousands of spectators to the edge of their seats in the afternoon as the 7 teams in the men's catchweight event fought their way through some gruelling matches to determine who would win the prestigious trophy. At the end of the regular points match, Bluewater from Dashwood and the Peel Regional Police were tied with 16 points. For Bluewater who are basically a 640K team, it was an uphill battle to take their first win of the season over their much heavier rivals from Mississauga. The first end lasted 1 minute 18 seconds. A surprised but ever confident Peel Police team rallied together in the second end with a win over Bluewater in 1 minute and 50 seconds. The result meant that a sudden-death overtime match would have to be pulled to establish the championship. The tension was evident in both the competitors and the spectators as the two teams took their positions on the rope and followed the instructions of the starting judge. When the command "Pull" was called, both teams hit hard but it wasn't long before the police team from Mississauga started the momentum going their way, finishing the pull in 50 seconds and securing their place as event champions.

Earlier that morning, four teams competed in the 720K men's class with Bluewater finishing in 1st place followed by Ellice in 2nd, Zorra in 3rd and South Easthope in 4th. The Women's Catchweight class was pulled alongside the Men's Catchweight in the afternoon with the championship going to the Peel Regional Police who went undefeated in the tournament.

RESULTS:
Men's 720K
1. Bluewater | 2. Ellice | 3. Zorra | 4. South Easthope

The month of August finished with a non-sanctioned event at the annual fall fair in Mitchell, Ontario where 5 Co-Ed teams met in a late afternoon event. Co-Ed events (where each team consists of 4 women and 4 men) are not sanctioned by the international tug-of-war organization (TWIF) but do get a good deal of interest in the United States. According to Wayne Messecar, the Co-ordinator of Events for the Ontario Tug-of-War Association, the decision to run Co-Ed at this and several other smaller venues during the later part of the season was in accord with the wish of the association members at their annual spring meeting. There, it was decided that the Co-Ed format would allow more women to participate, keeping with the league's current thrust to promote the expansion of female teams. Zorra showed the greatest membership participation by fielding two teams at the event.

Approximately 150 spectators watched with interest as the mixed teams competed in a double round robin program. At the end of the afternoon, it was the team from Bluewater who won the event with 16 wins and no losses.

RESULTS:
Co-Ed
1. Bluewater | 2. South Easthope | 3. Zorra (A) | 4. Nissouri | 5. Zorra (B)