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By Robert LaFrance

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Ten teams of horses arrived at Perth-Andover Legion Branch 36 on Thursday evening, August 21, and brought along their teamsters to guide them under the late afternoon sunny skies. The 2008 Legion Horsepull began at 7:00 pm sharp after Miss Perth-Andover, Jenna Monteith of Tilley, read the list of sponsors for the event and MC Cecil Pirie of Andover called the teamsters to their places. Brian Bowmaster's International tractor was there to pull back the cement-loaded drag after each team had been fastened onto the drag.

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The teams competed in three weight levels with those from 2400-2899 pounds pulling in the Light category, 2900-3299 in the Middle class, and 3300 in the Heavyweight division. In the Light weight class were the teams of Corey Grant, Elton Rideout, and Sterling Tibbetts; in the Middle were Winston Clark, Brian Clark, and Donald Broad, and in the Heavyweight class were Chris Budrow, Fred Weeks, Lorne Hallett, and John Hallett.

"And that's a very good pull!" Cecil Pirie said as Corey Grant was first to the drag and his team easily pulled the 2.5 tons along the short track that was kept as smooth as possible by the efforts of Jason Chambers, Murray Brayson, Doug Giggie, and Jamie Taylor. But as time went on and weight was added to the drag, fewer teams were able to pull it the required distance.

Corey Grant's team weighing 2780 pounds came first in the Light class, with Sterling Tibbetts and Elton Rideout finishing second and third respectively. In the Middleweight class Donald Broad of Moose Mountain guided his team to a pull of 8200 pounds, with Brian Clark finishing second and Winston Clark in third place. Among the Heavyweight teams, those of John Hallett of Hartland had the best showing with a pull of 8200 pounds and he won the prize for Best Teamster of the event.

Lorne Hallett and Chris Budrow finished second and third.