The results of Saturday’s contest are available on the Tugfest websites and Facebook pages.
When that time had elapsed during the first, the team in LeClaire settled on the ground over which they’d just struggled.
“The hardest three minutes of your life, I’m not gonna lie, but it’s well worth it,” Devin Allbee, captain of that first Iowa team, said afterward.
Allbee, of LeClaire, said participating in the event was a great, fun experience.
“The nice thing is, it’s the only event in the country that gets a major river shut down for three hours,” he said. “So it’s a one-of-a-kind event, so it doesn’t hurt to ever try to say you’ve done it.
A short time earlier, children had a go at the contest. Though smaller in scale, the effort was no less. The kids shouted and grimaced as they fought for every inch of ground.
They were encouraged from the sidelines, just as the adults would be a short time later: “Go! Go! Go!” “Give it all you got! Give it all you got!” “Pull!”
Emery Flockhart, 8, of Davenport, said her first bout was kind of easy. The second, though, was tougher — her team’s opponents made it feel as if there was an adult pulling on the rope.
Matt Kuberski, of the Muddy River Tug Club, refereed the junior contests.