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Ickford Women's Team

Pictures show latest annual Bucks vs Oxon tug of war competition near Thame

Pictures have been released from the latest annual intercounty tug of war contest near Thame.

Teams from Bucks and Oxon clashed in the latest competition between Ickford and Tiddington.

Tiddington Ladies ended 30 years of hurt with a convincing win against Ickford.

The Tiddington group had gone 30 years without a win at the annual showcase which first started back in 1953.

Men from both villages started the pull over the counties’ and villages’ natural boundary to mark the Queen’s ascension.

In 1977 a junior competition was added, and in 1992 a one off women’s match was contested.

A women’s tug of war contest became a permanent fixture in the 2000s.

Tiddington Ladies had never won, but finally took the trophy on Friday night 5 August.

Tiddington Men also triumphed, and the Ickford Junior Team retained their title.

Team Captain Lorna Moles, 38, said: “We all feel absolutely fantastic about winning. Every year we all train hard and to finally get the reward for all our

effort is amazing. We always get a lot of support from the village, win or lose, but to show that our good teamwork and amazing spirit can get the result everyone wants is brilliant.”

The trophy was collected by Nikki Malin, 52, who was on the original team in 1992 and one of the founding members of the women’s pull, having

competed previously in the Juniors in the 1980s.

She said: “The Tug is such a special and important event in the village. I used to come and watch when I was little and couldn’t wait to

get on the rope myself. I always wanted to start a women’s team. We have some great coaches and it’s a brilliant way for the village to come together and celebrate this unique event. We’ve lost a lot of pulls, but you just have to keep on going and keep up the tradition.”

Gavin White, 33, from Chinnor, Tiddington men’s team captain, said: “Our win this year means we are now 36 to 33 pulls ahead of Ickford and to get the women started on what we hope will be a winning run, makes it even better. Let’s hope next year we can do the treble and get the Juniors back to winning ways.”

Ickford captain Matthew French, 41, said: “It’s been an extremely disappointing end to all the hard work in training. Tiddington Men just felt unstoppable so no complaints, they are a better team than us at the moment!

“Ickford Ladies’ run of wins had to end at some point so huge congratulations to Tiddington Ladies for their resilience to keep working hard to finally get that win.

“And, of course, our Junior Team did a magnificent job to win.

“We as always will do battle next year and try to turn the tide back in Ickford’s favour.”

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