Cumberland wrestling round-up

By Roger Robson

The least successful balloon race ever - Alwinton Show 1995

As the nights draw in and the frosts begin, Cumberland and Westmorland Wrestling heads for the hills for its last events.

Alas, only three remain of the 2009 grass season.

Tomorrow, Alwinton Border Shepherds' Show, lost in the Cheviot foothills, will attract an unfeasibly large crowd.

Simultaneously in the deepest of the Lakeland valleys, the Wasdale Head Show will also be based round a sheep show, fell-running, hound trails and wrestling.

Last of all in a fortnight will be Buttermere Show with the same recipe, but perched halfway up a mountain.

These are the last opportunities to gain points towards the Wrestling Association trophies for the most successful wrestlers of the 2009 season, which will be presented at the CWWA Dinner on 6 November.

Every time a wrestler is first, second or third he or she gains points towards the trophy; wins score highest, but the system rewards persistence and a big mileage as well.

In the sixties wrestlers simply went into hibernation when the season ended if they were not part of Kendal Academy, the only club still meeting in that decade.

Year by year the winter programme has improved, and there are now five active academies throughout the north.

The Academy Shield has been successfully revived after a gap and the Annual Dinner brings wrestlers, organisers and fans together each year.

International contacts add further interest in the winter months.

Scottish wrestlers will hold their Youth Championships in November, while the Icelanders have made an approach about closer contacts and the possibility of borrowing a coach early next year.

Another popular excursion for Cumbrian-based wrestlers is France, and the Bretons who have three events in Brittany in the first part of 2010.

First off, the Breton back hold championships are on in Guipavas in early February, followed on the 3-4 April by the Espoirs and Female championship in Saint Brieuc.

Finally, in the first days of June, wrestlers are being invited to the 80th year of the FALSAB, the Breton traditional games association which included wrestling for a long time.

Wrestlers have also been offered accommodation and travel costs in order to compete in the event, a kind gesture from the Bretons.

All this and the Academy Shield in early December at Bootle means that no wrestler need be without a goal during the 'quiet' season.

I have attended Alwinton Show every year since I was a toddler in 1946 (except for when I was in Australia judging cattle in 2003) and still get a buzz out of the event with its big ring, big crowd, the wrestling and the craic.

Wrestlers have to be there earlier this year to make a sharp start, perhaps to make sure that the ring is not taken over by a plague of terriers or balloons halfway through the action.