Scotland's ladies will be pulling for success at this year’s tug-of-war world championships in South Africa, in September, after a fantastic result at the recent British and Irish championships.

The Scottish effort from the ladies and men's teams – with many farmers involved – secured its most successful medal haul to date of four golds, two silvers and one bronze medal. The championships took place recently at Wyboston Lakes, near St Neots, Beds, with a record level of entries and more than 500 taking part.

The ladies began their battle for gold medal success on the opening day of competition and after progressing though a competitive league, took the victory over England in the final. Over the course of the two days, a variety of Scottish teams comprising of different regional clubs, ages and weight categories battled competitive contests and shared in numerous victories.

One successful puller who is delighted to have secured her place on the trip to South Africa, is 23-year-old Lauren Kennedy, who was brought up on a dairy farm in Ayr. “I first tried tug-of-war through Ayr YFC, making the team when I was 15. We won at the Royal Highland Show that year, which really gave me the bug to progress and with the chance to compete at UK championships, I was hooked,” she said.

“Winning gold medals or any competition was not something I’d ever been familiar with. I took part in various sports throughout my life but never had much success with any,” explained Lauren, who graduated with a BSc in agricultural science and has recently started a new job as an agricultural officer in the department of agriculture.

“Tug-of-war fits in well with the young farmers' calendar as there are generally less meetings throughout the summer, plus competitions early in the season are at lots of different local shows, which gives the sport a great social side,” she added.

“It is a rough, tough sport and requires a serious amount of hard work which I think is something just engrained into farmers anyway, so it may come as less of a shock to the system. It is also a great spectator sport – as the Royal Highland crowd proves every year.”

Lauren returned from the British and Irish championships with two golds and a silver medal and has her sights set on the world championships. “I don’t think the fact that we are going to South Africa has actually sunk in yet! It’s been the talk for so long and I was scared to build my hopes too high,” she continued. “It will be an amazing experience. The last worlds we competed at was in Sweden, 2016, which was brilliant but not so far away.

"For the next month, we will be focussing on getting ready for the championship but also raising funds so that hopefully we can keep the club going stronger and stronger!"

Lauren added: “I’d love to see our club and the sport in Scotland continue to grow and for future pullers to receive some recognition. We’re working hard to fundraise and I hope by raising awareness of our story then more people will be inclined to give it a go!”

Lorna Bennett, who works with J and S Montgomery, John Deere dealers based in Uplawmoor, will also be representing both Ayr and Scotland at the world championships. She expressed her excitement but has apprehensions regarding the trip.

“I never thought I would be saying that the Ayrshire Tug-of-war Club has a team to go to South Africa for the world championships. I feel overwhelmed as I will not only be representing the club but also representing Scotland too, it's a great feeling,” enthused the 29-year-old, who began tug-of-war at the age of 13 with her then local team, Kilmaurs YFC.

“Training is going well and we are fundraising as well for the trip to South Africa as it's very expensive to compete. The mixed emotions are stress of trying to pay for the trip, to keep training six nights a week, doing research on the mental side of the sport, recovery and hydration etc and still work on the farm throughout the day. Hopefully, we’ll have the second cut done and straw in before we leave for South Africa,” she said.

Colin Montgomery, an Aberdeen-Angus breeder and part of his family's J and as Montgomery business, will be coaching the ladies for the world championships: “I'm really excited to be going to coach the girls in South Africa. The world championships are the true mark of what you a capable of,” said Colin, who had competed in the sport as a young farmer.

“All the teams travelling that distance have ambitions to win. There will be no easy ends and the girls have to learn to treat every end as a final.

“Young farmers and the military are the two most common routes into the sport, as they both have championships in their activities timetable.

"The YF' championship at the Royal Highland is one of the main draws for them. It is an amazing atmosphere with a large crowd cheering for their clubs,” concluded Colin.

The team travelling to South Africa comprises of Anne McHarg, Karen Gemmell, Julie Bannerman, Louise Mckenzie, Emma Bone, Louise Allan, Lauren Kennedy, Lorna Bennett and coach, Colin Montgomery.

The Scottish boys will not be South Africa bound but fought off tough competition at the British and Irish championships to take silver for Scotland. After an exciting semi-final beating England in to second place, they narrowly lost out to Ireland in the final.

* The world championships take place in September 19-22, in Cape Town, South Africa.