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Airdrie arm wrestler pulls her way to gold at nationals

Airdrie’s Stacey Foster has two more medals to add to her overflowing trophy cabinet. The athlete picked up a gold and silver medal at the 2019 Canadian National Armwrestling Championships, held July 13 and 14 in Edmonton.

Pulling at her third national championships, Foster finished first in the Ladies Masters 70-kilogram (kg) class for the right arm and second in the left-arm category. She rounded out her weekend with a fourth-place showing in the open ladies 60-kg left-arm event and fifth in the right-arm.

While she’s no stranger to the podium, Foster said she was excited to win more hardware at a national level.

“It was very surprising that I ended up with first and second in the masters – it’s a tough class – and even the fourth and fifth in the seniors open,” she said. “Those young girls are tough, so I was very happy with how I pulled.”

Foster’s performance qualified her for the 2019 World Armwrestling Federation Championships, which will take place Oct. 26 to Nov. 3 in Romania. Unfortunately, she said, scheduling conflicts will likely prevent her from attending her first world championships.

“I’d love to go, but with work and everything, I don’t think I’ll be able to,” she said. “I’ll plan for next year to take another year of training…and maybe plan for the 2020 worlds.”

A former body builder, Foster took up competitive armwrestling four years ago, at the age of 43, under the tutelage of her husband Stew – president of the Airdrie Arm Wrestling Club (AAWC) and a multi-time world champion.

Since taking up the sport, she’s carved out her own legacy, with multiple national titles in the last three years. She said her growing experience paid dividends at the national championships.

“It’s nice, because I’ve pulled against some of those girls before, so I kind of knew what to expect,” she said. “Some of the girls were new, of course, but you still feel more confident [going into it].”

Foster said her biggest advantages are her hand and inside strength. She added her strategy is to finish matches as quickly as possible to reserve her power.

“If you get that one really long match, it’s tough on the body,” she said. “Your next opponent, you may be able to beat them, but because of a long match you just had…you’ve just lost to her because your arms are already spent.”

In preparation for the national championships, Foster trained twice a week with AAWC, while working out at a gym five or six days a week and dieting to make weight.

She said a highlight of the national championships this year was the venue. The event took place at West Edmonton Mall’s Ice Palace, which offered the 600 competitors plenty of exposure.

“Everyone walking around the mall could stop [to watch],” she said. “We had spectators banging on the glass, coming over and cheering. It was unbelievable and the atmosphere was just amazing – it couldn’t have been better.

“Usually, we have [our competitions] at a hotel in a conference room, so, unless you know what’s going on, you don’t go there. It’s usually friends and families, but this time, it was people you don’t even know. People just walking by would see what was going on – they see team shirts and different provinces, so they stick around and start cheering.”

Another Airdrie athlete who competed at nationals was Dale Kotyk, who finished fourth in the Men’s Masters 100-kg class in the right-arm competition




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