2007 House of Lords v House of Commons Tug of War in aid of Macmillan Cancer
By Sgt Al Sharp
Wednesday 13th June 07 saw the 20th anniversary of the Macmillan Cancer Tug of War which took place at the Houses of Parliament. For the 3rd year running the Royal Air Force Tug of War squad had the honour to have been invited to take part in this annual charity event.
For this year the event was moved from the grounds of the Thames Embankment to the garden directly outside the Palace of Westminster (where politicians are interviewed on news channels), under the gaze of Big Ben.
The main reason for this event is to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. Every year the amount generated has increased, with last year’s total topping an amazing £136,000 and the event receives sponsorship from large companies such as BAE industries and Taylor Woodrow, who have been involved from the first event.
Every one of the guests, who we were to entertain later, had paid £150 for the privilege to sit alongside Lords, Ladies and celebrities at an evening meal set in the private grounds of Westminster College. That evening there would be live music and, more importantly, an auction for some fabulous donated gifts including a theatre box for four in the Albert Hall, a luxury break in Marrakech and a De Beers 1.75 carrats diamond pendant, all hopefully fetching thousands of pounds.
The day started early, with the RAF squad having met up the previous night at RAF Halton. Leaving at 8am we started the journey into London hoping that we would not have to repeat the antics from the year before where, for some reason, we saw parts of London 3 times within a matter of minutes! Luckily our driver and team Manager C/T Robbie Stamper had bought a map!!
Arriving at Hyde Park Barracks, the home of the Blues and Royals, we met our fellow military competitors. As the barracks are normally off limits it was a great honour, made all the more memorable as we watched the full dress rehearsal for the Queens birthday parade.
After a briefing from the event organiser the four military teams, The Royal Marines (no I didn’t ask them what instruments they played), 11 Signals Regiment, 1 RSME and ourselves got into a convoy and made our way to the Houses of Parliament.
The main event was to take place at 6pm, so initially an inter-service competition was held to find out which teams were to pull for 1st and 2nd and which were to compete for 3rd and 4th positions.
The Army teams arrived and they all had a massive weight advantage over our team. In normal competitions a team “weigh in” takes place to ensure that all teams weigh the same, but as this was a charity competition it was decided that there was no need.
The competition was run as a round robin meaning we had the unenviable task of pulling against all three teams. The top two teams would go into the final and pull for a trophy and the other two for the plate. Even though we were outside, the competition was held on indoor mats, this was to allow the civilian teams to wear trainers and negate the need to make up outdoor boots. Indoor tug of war runs the same rules (drag the other team 4 metres) but the technique is very much different.
Green flash trainers are the footwear of choice, and you need to stay very square to the rope and ensure that your feet stay flat on the mat or else you lose all grip and will slide forward at an alarming rate of knots. Even though our team consisted of some very experienced pullers technique is, unfortunately, sometimes not enough to overcome a massive weight advantage.
The preliminary competition went well and all the teams fought for every inch of rope with the RAF squad using all the tricks in the book (and some that aren’t) to take the fight to the army. First it was 11 Sigs who are one of the top teams on the circuit, and it showed. A fierce battle commenced but they ultimately proved too good for us! Next up it was 1RSME, a new team but a very fit and strong team, we managed to take some rope off them with an early and strong drop but they again proved to be better on the day, a close second, again!
Finally it was the Royal Marines, a very strong and heavy team - this wasn’t going to be easy. After some inspirational words from the coach, something along the lines of “tie the rope to the railings”, we got ready, picked up the rope and dropped into the pull. The normal technique for indoor tug of war is pure pressure pulling but the Marines adopted an unconventional technique of humping and dumping and for them it worked, it didn’t help that we forgot to tie the rope to the railings, but I think that’s against the rules!
The final results saw 11 Sigs and 1RSME in the 1st / 2nd pull off and we would have to take on the Marines in the 3rd / 4th competition.
At 5 O’clock all the teams went into the college grounds for a meet and greet champagne reception (of course we only drank orange juice), mingling with the guests we tried to drum up support for the RAF. A trumpet quartet eventually signalled for all to move to the main arena for the fun to begin.
There were to be 6 competitions, the two military pulls, BAE v Taylor Woodrow, Millbank Broadcast Team v Palace of Westminster Press Gallery, House of Commons women’s team v the ladies from the House of Lords, and finally the men from the House of Commons v The House of Lords.
Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine provided the commentary, with teams vocally encouraged by cheerleaders such as Mariella Frostrup and Sky News’ Kaye Burley.
The final results saw 11 Sigs win the military competition, followed by 1RSME, the Royal Marines and RAF. Taylor Woodrow won their pulls, Millbank beat the Press Gallery and both the Lords and Ladies teams came out easy winners against the Commons teams. But, for these events, results don’t really mater; what does matter is the large sums of money that are collected for a very worthwhile charitable cause. In this respect the whole event was a massive success.
So, what’s next for the RAF Tug of War squad? Well, many more competitions against the Army including the Inter-service Championships in July. There are also competitions all over the country such as the Princess Royals’, at Princess Anne’s Home Gatcombe Park, and the finale, The Royal Highland Games, Braemar.
Plenty of great opportunities exist from both a personal and charitable perspective, in what is a very demanding sport. So, if you are interested in getting involved, why not get hold of us through the contacts page. And remember, you don’t need to be built like Geoff Capes!
The Royal Highland Games Braemar 2006
By Sgt Al Sharp
The Royal Highland Games were held at the Braemar Showground, Scotland, on Saturday September 2nd and are the highlight of the Tug of War season since the end of the very popular Royal Tournament. The RAF Squad had been invited to compete against the best the Army could send; and compete we did.
For those who have never been to the Royal Highland games, it’s the final event in the Highland Games season and is held amidst some of the most beautiful scenery. Braemar is a natural bowl shaped arena surrounded by mountains (which some mad fools race up on the day!), and allows all 6,000 spectators to get a great view of the events taking place. These include sprints, throwing the hammer and of course the caber tossing, and whilst all this is going on the Massed Bands of the Scottish Highlands march around. This all combines to create a fantastic atmosphere, which only helps to make you try harder.
The squad met up on Friday evening at RAF Leuchars; from there they would travel the 65 miles to Braemar as a squad early the following morning. Squad members came from many different units including Cosford, Wittering, Benson, Lyneham and Valley, unfortunately out of the 13 members who should have turned up we only had 6, not even enough for a team. Disappointed, but not disheartened, we decided that we should still go and try and borrow 2 pullers.
Easy you may think, just get two strapping lads to lend a hand - if only it was that simple. Tug of War is a very technical sport and it’s not just a case of getting 8 of the largest blokes you can find and walk backwards - you have to be dedicated and maintain your fitness. There are many different weight categories but Braemar is run on 640Kgs (total weight of all 8 pullers). This sounds a lot but equates to each man weighing in at just 80 Kgs each which, when I say that I am 94 Kilos, means that we now need someone who is 66 kilos. So, trying to find 2 small pullers who had done it before was not going to be easy. We eventually managed to find 3 spare pullers in total, unfortunately they were not small guys which meant a bit of man management was required. Reluctantly, this meant we had to drop one of our regular guys (Cheers Si Asquith) to get down to the required 640 Kilos but at least we were in – just!
The competition was to be run with two leagues, the top two from each going into the main competition, the others into the plate. We had been drawn with 11 Signals, 17 Port & Maritime, 39 Brigade and the very experienced 40 Regiment. The other league comprised of The 4th Royal Irish, 3rd Royal Horse Artillery regiment, 14 Signals Regiment and the 12th Royal Artillery.
We were the first out, and with all the problems we had encountered we had not really had enough time to warm up and fine tune how the team, with 3 new guys, was going to perform, but we decided to suck it and see and give it our best shot.
39 Brigade were our first opponents, a strong group but not too experienced and with a fantastic crowd behind both teams we managed to win 2-0.
Next were 11 Signals who in the past had beaten us. The first end was probably the best of the whole day and incredibly exciting for the large crowd, many of who were cheering for the RAF mainly because we were the underdogs and the only none-army team. 11 Sigs started very strongly and slowly pressured us back; we were just inches from losing and the team needed to do something – and quick! We put in a massive lift and with that the pendulum had swung our way, we powered backwards and the crowd started going mad. Both teams were tiring but we had the momentum and finally manage to win that end. 1-0 to us. At the next end 11 Sigs powered from the start and made the score 1-1. The deciding end was going to be down to who wanted it more because by this time both teams were feeling exhausted. Again 11 Sigs started well but this time we were ready for them, we stopped them, put in a good lift, and powered them to the line. Victory and still unbeaten.
Now our nemesis, 40 Regiment - The Lowland Gunners. In 10 years of taking part in this sport I have only been in the winning squad against 40 Reg twice, today that statistic was unfortunately not going to change. The RAF squad put up a good fight but their technique was too good for us and we went down 2-0.
Looking at how other results had gone if we could beat our last opponents, 17 Port & Maritime, we could still make it to the semi-finals. There was no way that the team were going to lose, it was pure aggression and we ripped them out of the ground, 2-0!
At the start of the day if we had said that the squad could make the semi-finals we would have been laughed at, but we had, and now we were the ones laughing. Don’t get me wrong, the squad had the potential to win, and we have in the past, but with a team made up of unproven pullers it was unusual to do so well.
The semi-finals were to be held later in the day, on fresh ground, in front of the Royal Box. At 1400 we lined up alongside the 4th Royal Irish, and to look at them you would think they were the underdogs with many of them the wrong side of 40 (mind you we’ve got a couple too), but appearances can be deceptive. This group have won everything in their time, including an Indoor World Championships, so it was not going to be easy.
We picked up the rope, took the strain, and banged straight into the pull - My God! It was like the rope was still tied to a tree (which only 10 minutes ago we had used to warm our legs up). They had no weight advantage, remember all the teams weighed in the same, so it was purely down to their experience and technique, our team then put a lift in but still they never moved. Now it was their turn! They put in a lift, which we tried to absorb, but, with the combination of fresh ground and an inexperienced squad, they pulled us to the line and won the first end. In the second end we won the drop and started to take ground off them but the Irish are not a team who get worried easily. They stopped us, waited 20 seconds, then slowly but surely pressured us back to the line. It’s really frustrating feeling yourself sliding forward when there’s nothing you can do about it - the whole squad put up a real fight but alas it was all over for another year!
The Royal Irish would eventually go on to win the final, so at least we lost to the best team, which they were - by far. Of course we were sad to lose but we also had a warm sense of pride inside, and everyone involved should be proud of what they had achieved - I tip my hat to you all - and there’s always next year!
If you would like to find out more about Tug of War then why not speak to one of the team, you’ll be surprised how much fun it is (oh and how tiring it can be).