In a season dominated by The Peel Regional Police, where the Ladies went a perfect 52-0 and the Men 77-9, this, night belonged to the South Easthope Men.  They rose to the support of the home crowd going 15-0 for the evening, with anchor Murray Schlotzhauer in his 40th season (also the 40th consecutive season of Tug of War at The Stratford Fair) and team mate Jim Stephensen in his 37th!.   Another strong slowing came from runner-up Ellice, who is also a crowd favorite.  The fine dry silt trucked into the arena lends itself to long pulls and in the very 1st pull of the evening Ellice outlasted Zorra in 2:43.  Other exceptional pulls included Ellice over Peel in 4:24, South over Ellice in 4:55, McKillop over Zorra in 2:30 and South over Peel in 2:57.  After the competition, a reception was held upstairs for Murray.  He was presented with a Plaque from his co-members of the Stratford Fair & Agricultural Society.  OTOWA presented him with a watch with his name engraved and the message " 40 Years of Tug Of War".  He also received a sweat shirt with the same.  Many thanks to South, Ellice and the Stratford Fair and it's sponsors for making this all possible.  Special thanks to Ron Totten for all his work, who noted during the presentations that Murray would also be receiving a sweat shirt in the mail from the Gals in Wisconsin that reads " Tug of War is life, the rest is just details."  In thanking everyone, Murray mentioned that his wife has told him this will be his last season but he added "We'll see how I feel in the spring..." A great evening to wrap up the season.

Wayne Messecar

[HOME]