Saturday at the Royal Highland Show saw an epic battle of passion, power and skill, as teams of Young Farmers assembled for the grand final of the SAYFC tug-of-war competition.

Sponsored by Davidson & Robertson, the men’s event was won by Carluke YFC and the ladies’ competition was won by Brechin YFC.

Local rivals Carluke and Biggar YFC had battled for the men’s title, with Carluke winning in the final pull.

In the ladies’ competition it came down to Brechin YFC pulling against Carluke YFC, with Brechin taking victory for the first time in the competition.

The trophies were presented by Martin Hall, Senior Director at Davidson & Robertson, who said “What an occasion! It was so good to be back. As always, the ringside was packed with supporters and the vibrant team colours created a real spectacle from the start.

“Talking to the coaches it’s clear there is a huge amount of training and dedication, but on the day there are a lot of things that need to come together, like tactics, style, stamina, strength and resilience. #pullingfortheteam is the social hashtag we created for the event, it encapsulates the teamwork and the skills needed to win and is something that all the teams displayed. Congratulations go to all the teams for making the finals. Well done to the men’s team from Carluke and a huge congratulations to Brechin ladies for their first national win.”

The Brechin YFC ladies team has reached the Royal Highland Show competition several times, but until this year, had never made the final. The clubs motto is ‘Be Bigger, Be Better, Be Brechin’, something that helped inspire them during practice. Coach Gordon Sang said: “Some of the team have trained for years but never made it to the semi-finals, so it’s amazing to win here which is the pinnacle of the YFC year. We’ve a real mix of experience in the team, two (Katie Moore and Ashley Spark) have pulled for the Scottish team in the past, but for Jessica Simm, this is her first year in the competition. They’ve done the club proud.”

Ayr YFC ladies’ team were previous winners of the competition, they lost against Brechin ladies in the semi-finals. In the pull for third and fourth place, Strathbogie JAC beat Ayr to take third with Ayr taking 4th place.