Airdrie's local arm-wrestling club dominated the western Canadian arm-wrestling scene earlier this month, taking home 11 trophies and medals at the Stronghold tournament in Drayton Valley on Dec. 11 and 12.
The competition, hosted by Buggy Armwrestling Club, boasted 63 competitors from the western provinces, with nine representatives from the Airdrie Arm Wrestling Club.
Stew Foster, head coach of the Airdrie Arm Wrestling Club, pulled professionally for approximately 41 years. He said he was more than a little happy with the club’s showing.
“It was absolutely amazing. We were definitely the top team,” he said. “Out of 15 or so club members, nine of which were present brought home 11 trophies and medals.
“And we had 17 top-five placements because some people pull right and left hand.”
Since retiring from the sport competitively, Foster – a former provincial, national, and world arm-wrestling champion – has served as head representative for arm wrestling authorities in western Canada and coach of the Airdrie club.
He added the Airdrie pullers have “gelled” as a team this season.
“When everybody goes up to the table, all the rest of the team members are up cheering,” he said.
In attendance at the competition were Foster and his wife Stacey, a national champion in her own right, as well as arm-wrestling competitors Dale Kotyk, Brad Prins, Colby Stonham, Roman Sofranko, Glenn Weber, Myron Braun, and Daniel and Yousef Derhamin.
Foster said Sofranko has only been training with the club for a month, and he ended up pulling in both the amateur and professional divisions.
“Roman did remarkably well,” Foster said. “[Taking] second in the pro division, and first in the amateur division.”
This time around, Airdrie’s pullers were up against arm-wrestlers from across the western provinces including Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia.
“Everybody’s dying to get on the table and pull, so they came from all over,” Foster said of the widespread turnout. “Now, Airdrie is the team that everybody is trying to come after because we’ve got the hottest team in Alberta.”
He added all the team members have come a long way in the last five years of training together.
Foster started the Airdrie Arm Wrestling Club in 2015, when he began training his wife Stacey to arm-wrestle competitively. The club has since grown to include upwards of 15 members who train regularly together in a make-shift arm wrestling gym in the Fosters’ basement.
“The club started with just my husband coaching me and now we have full-time members that come regularly,” Stacey said, adding she enjoys the camaraderie between club members.
“I am thoroughly ecstatic with how our club is doing,” she said. “I’m very proud of our members. They have worked very hard."
Stacey, who came in second in the women’s zero to 140 left hand pro division, and who holds first and second at the national level masters, said with many competitions postponed due to the pandemic, the team plans to keep on training and getting stronger.
“We try to train twice a week and it’s been tough with COVID with the restrictions and everything, it’s hit and miss with practicing, but we normally train twice a week at our house here in Airdrie,” she said.
Foster added with COVID-19 regulations in place, competitions haven’t been consistent for the team either.
“We really don’t have anything scheduled right now because everything is always up in the air due to COVID,” he said. “Depending on what happens in the next few months, our sights are set on provincials [and nationals] next year.”
Carmen Cundy, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @carmenrcundy
