CHAMPIONS OF THE PAST
"THE ABBOTSFORD POLICE"

     Little is known about early tug-of-war competitions in British Columbia but in 1997, I  heard about a club in Canada's most westerly province, that had just taken part in the World Police and Firefighter's championships in Calgary, Alberta.

     Under the direction of Inspector Patrick McBride, the police team from Abbotsford was making a name for itself both locally and nationally. McBride had trained and coached Abbotsford Police Tug Of War teams to numerous national and international titles during the previous 5-6 years.

      McBride's background in the sport of tug-of-war began during his military service from 1959 to 1961 when he served in the Royal Marines (Unit 45 Commando R.M.).  His first pull occurred at an inter-troop competition while serving in Aden, located at the foot of the Arabian Peninsula.  In 1962 he joined the City of Glasgow Police in Scotland where he became a member of the force's tug-of-war team for the next four years.  His final assignment before coming to Canada was with the Bermuda Police where he successfully coached and trained their police team from 1966 to 1974.

      Although there were annual tug-of-war contests in the Abbotsford area when McBride arrived on the scene in 1975, the sport wasn't taken seriously until August of 1991 when the Abbotsford-Matsqui Chamber of Commerce held a pre-air show called "Picnic in The Park."  On that occasion, an inexperienced group named "The Matsqui Police Tug O' War Team" was entered in its first competition.  Although beaten in the final by the veterans of the Delta Police, they did show some promise and shortly afterward it was decided the Matsqui Police had the potential to raise and train a competitive team. In April of 1992, training of the members began seriously under the direction of Sergeant McBride for local competition.

Here are some members of the Abbotsford Police Tug-of-War Team competing at an event in Portland, Oregon.   Many hours of hard work were spent in preparation for various local, national and international competitions.

       The reward for the hard training came early in May when the team won at an event in Bradner, B.C.  This was followed by entering ten competitions that season where they took 1st place on five occasions, 2nd place at three and 3rd place at two.  The highlight of that year was entering the Northwest Police & Firefighters Games in Walla Walla, Washington where they swept the board by taking gold and silver in the Heavyweight division while the Lightweight team defeated their old rivals the Delta Police to finish first.

      The year 1993 saw both teams training hard to defend the Northwest titles at Calgary, Alberta and for the World Police & Firefighters Games scheduled for Colorado Springs, Colorado in August.  At Calgary, the teams retained the titles won the previous year at Walla Walla setting the stage for the main event in Colorado.

      On a sunny August day, in the shadow of Pike's Peak and the Rocky Mountains in the background, the Canadian team from Matsqui arrived in Colorado Springs prepared to do battle with their rivals from the United States, Canada, Australia and Ireland.  These included in the Heavyweight Division, Los Angeles Marshals, winners in 1989 and 1987, the Irish National Police, first in 1989, and the defending champions, the Metro Toronto Police from Ontario.  Among the Lightweights were the favourites from Tennessee, Shelby County Fire Department and Memphis Fire Department, all in the race in the five previous games.  In both divisions Matsqui took the gold medals, giving them the title of "World Champions."

      On returning home from their triumphs in Colorado, the teams decided to stay together to defend their titles at the VI World Police & Fire Games that was scheduled for February 26 to March 4, 1995 in Melbourne, Australia.  In addition to the two male teams, a female team was formed and soon became highly competitive.

      At the 1995 Melbourne Games, the Matsqui team continued to demonstrate the skill and talent they had shown in the previous two years finishing first in both the Women's and Lightweight Men's Divisions.  The Heavyweight team however was up against Peel Regional Police, another Canadian team from Mississauga, Ontario that was competing for the first time at the Police & Fire Games.  Peel weighed in just under the maximum limit 1500 lbs. with Matsqui 201 lbs lighter.  The difference proved too much for the B.C. veterans.  They lost the final match to their Ontario rivals and finished in second place.

     Two years later, the 1997 World Police & Firefighters Games were held in Calgary, Alberta on June 29th and the Matsqui (now Abbotsford) teams returned to attempt another sweep of the gold medals as they had done before in Colorado.  The Lightweight team dominated their division defeating the Malaysian National Police team in the finals to take the gold medal for the third consecutive tournament.  As in Australia however, the Heavyweight team met stiff competition from the Peel Police from Ontario and had to be satisfied with a silver medal at the end of the match.  Along the way however, they defeated both of the Toronto Police teams as well as the second entry from Peel.  The Women's Lightweight team finished 2nd in a group of four contestants to take home the silver medal.

     On Saturday July 18^th 1998, an Abbotsford Police Tug of War team consisting of two males and six females travelled to Portland, Oregon where they competed at the 46th annual Portland Highland games in the Tug of War competition.

     This trip was part of the training schedule for the women's team participation in the World Tug of War Championships at Rochester Minnesota in September of that year.

     Pulling against male teams, they won all three of the pulls and beat the United States Marine Team twice. All this in front of 20,000 spectators, who gave the Abbotsford girls thunderous ovations.

     The members of the team were: Crystal Trider, Corrie VanBeek, Colleen McMath, Kelly Steiger, Ann Shook, Tracy Hauff, Bob Bergman and Paul Jack. The coach is lnsp. Pat McBride. (Kim Jones, Astrid Tomica and Diane Rauch were unable to attend.)  Here the team takes a well earned victory lap after the presentation of awards.   

      The most challenging competition for the Abbotsford organization came on September 5, 1998, when the Women's 520 kg team represented Canada at the World Tug-of-War Championships in Rochester, Minnesota. They were competing against 9 countries from around the world and finished in 7th place with 4 wins and 12 losses, certainly a respectable accomplishment considering that it was their first competition in a TWIF sponsored event.

      When Pat McBride retired from the Abbotsford Police Force in June, 1999, the  tug-of-war dynasty that he had built through the 1990's ended with his departure and has never been revived.  Both the men and women who participated on the teams during those years as well as the community at large will long remember the glory and pride that was brought to this small British Columbia city by the Tug-of-War Champions from Abbotsford.

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Editor: M. L. Monteith
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Last modified: May 17, 2004