Mid November and all becomes incredibly busy for Aspull Wrestling Club and Freestyle Wrestling as a sport in
Wigan. This year marked the 33rd Annual International Freestyle Wrestling Competition and there was some
trepidation about the number of wrestlers that would make the journey to Robin Park Sports Centre. Not only
were people’s current financial situations a hurdle but the British Junior Championships had been held a few
weeks previously in Bolton and when clubs are travelling the distance that they have to there was concern that
there may be a lower turnout.
Aspull International has gained such a high reputation as being the best competition in the UK that there was in fact a record turnout of wrestlers that came to compete, 188 wrestlers were at the Friday evening weigh in and due to some of the athletes competing in 2 categories (either weight or age) this took the actual number to over 200. As well as all the wrestlers from each club there are the hordes of supporter that come with them as well as their coaches and officials.
Claire Keegan, Aspull Wrestling Club Secretary and Competition Manager commented:
“If I listen to what the wrestlers say, it’s fine to have pre-competition nerves but organizing the competition can make me feel almost as nervous as the guys that are going out onto the mat! The planning for the competition starts immediately after the preceding competition but the really hard work is always on the actual weekend of the wrestling. I feel that this year’s event was the best ever, however we are constantly working out ways and means of things running in a smoother way – it wouldn't be professional if we didn’t!
We are the luckiest club in the UK, not only do we have Roy Wood as our Head Coach but the number and quality of volunteers that we have at the club is paramount to our success. In addition to this our local councillor Chris Ready and Lisa Nandy MP attended the event and presented the trophy’s The amount of hard work and time they are willing to give us as parents, past & present wrestlers and even parents of wrestlers that are no longer involved in the sport is tremendous and something we don’t take for granted.”
The tennis arena at Robin Park was transformed into an international freestyle wrestling venue for the weekend. Three Olympic mats had been laid, the vision and sound system set up and everything was ready for he wrestling to start on the Saturday morning with the official march in of the 29 clubs in attendance. Nine different countries were represented by wrestlers and officials. The Countries of the UK (England, Scotland, Wales, N Ireland), EIRE, Holland, Germany, Kazakhstan & Belgium.
Matches took place throughout the day and the standard of wrestling was superb. Aspull Wrestling Club won the competition overall with 282 points, winning 9 Gold, 9 Silver and 2 Bronze, a 10 wrestlers gained points towards the overall result but were not placed in the top 3. As host, Roy Wood took the decision to award the Team Trophy to the next placed team which was Middleton & Wirksworth who finished with 184 points, closely followed by Slough Wrestling Club with 174 points.
Aspull Wrestling Club Team was:
GOLD
EMMA WATTS, ADAM PRESTON, MICHAEL COX, PATRICK BROWITT, ALEX GABRIEL,
YASEEN AL-BASRI, JOSHUA CLOSSICK, JAMES SMITH, REECE HANDLEY
SILVER
ELLA JOHNSON, ALISHA BROWITT, CHARLIE BOWLING, SY WEBBER, ANDREW EVANS, CONNOR HEWITT, CHARLIE TYRER, RHYS TUNSTALL, AARON HAMER
BRONZE
BEN JOHNSON & DANIEL BLAKE
With the remaining members being ANDILE NKOMO, DAVID COLLINS, DANIEL COLLINS, QASEEM AL-BASRI, MIC HAEL COX(2nd Category), KALLAM RODGERS, MASON WINNARD, JONATHON PARRY, ASH WILLIAMS & JACK HUGHES.
Also Commonwealth Games athletes that were there and all from Wigan! (Philip Roberts, Michael Grundy, Scot Gregory)
Also a trophy is awarded each year by Philip Roberts - it's the Maurice Fairhurst Memorial Trophy for Best Club Wrestler - this went the Patrick Browitt from the club who attend St John Fisher. (Maurice was Philip's Grandfather who was also our Club Referee until he sadly passed away.)
Some quotes:
Claire
Congratulations on saturdays competition. Once again it was very well organised and well represented. Unfortunately I had to leave before the end, and missed out on competing for fourth place in the 74k seniours. I had a really grand day and the aching joints were well worth it. I am looking forward to next years comp.
Regards D Penkethman
Bill Cooper – Many thanks from the : Manchester YMCA wrestling Club.
Great comp.....you are always are made welcome, A very long day - but very enjoyable.
On behalf of the Tryst Lions Wrestling Club Cumbernauld, I would like to thank Aspull Wrestling Club for providing a great day out for all !!!
Steven Mckeown
Coach.
