Feb 23:
Outrage in Killarney today at the first day of the World Indoor Championships as 3 teams, St. Pats, MountainView & Richill, pulled out of the 560kg Semi-Finals in protest due to their belief that Kilroe, the 4th semi-finalist, had been and was continuing to use illegal runners in this competition.
The TWIF rules state that ;

"The shoes to be used for indoor tug of war should be as originally produced by an acknowledged* sport shoe manufacturer and the sole shall not be modified in any way. The sole must be made of rubber or such material as to give optimum grip but not cause damage to the pulling surface or floor."

The final decision was left to the Chief Judge at the event, Carl Mackeprang and the Technical Committee, chaired by Cathal McKeever. Mr. Mackeprang states that he feels satisfied that Kilroe's runners comply with the rules, although neither the team nor their coach, Billy Riley, can/will state who the manufacturer of their runner is or where they purchased them, they in fact provide no information in relation to their runners. TWIF however feel happy to accept, with not only no information to corroborate that these runners were "produced by an acknowledged sports shoe manufacturer" but with a clear refusal on the part of Kilroe to provide any such information, that the runners comply with the rules. The 560kg Competition was brought to a stand-still at semi-final stage by the withdrawal on this matter of principal by the three teams. After about an hour of this limbo, TWIF decided to pull the semi-final with Kilroe and the next three highest scoring teams, Carndonagh, Deel Rangers and Kilroe B. These teams would not agree to pull in what would amount to a farce. The 560kg Competition remains in this standstill, no medals were presented this evening at the medal ceremony, we await an update and will provide you with same as soon as we can.

Feb 26:
In the official book of Championship Results & on the TWIF website, Kilroe A are listed as the winners of the World Club 560kg Championship, they are listed as the only team in the semi-finals and the final.

Mar 01:
The pictures below are of the Kilroe 560kg team representing England in the International 560kg on Sat 25th Feb. They are wearing the contentious runners. There are close-ups of the runners, so you can judge for yourselves if these runners are "as originally produced by an acknowledged sport shoe manufacturer" or that sole has "not been modified in any way".