Arm wrestlers from across Northern Saskatchewan made their way to the Prince Albert Exhibition on Saturday to compete in the arm wrestling competition as part of the Prince Albert Winter Festival
Desiree DaSilva is one of the organizers for the event. In an interview with the Daily Herald, she said it was awesome to have an arm wrestling event in Prince Albert.
“It’s nice to be included because arm wrestling is not really something that’s widely known. It’s nice to be at a winter festival so then people can know more about arm wrestling and to provide something in the northern area because we’re kind of like Saskatoon and south it’s also nice to be included.”
The event in Prince Albert had more than 45 participants and were split into five different categories with girls, boys, mens lightweight, men’s middleweight and men’s heavyweight.
DaSilva says they wanted every competitor to have a fair chance in the competition.
“As far as this tournament today, it’s strictly by weight. We have different weight classes, so if some guy comes that’s 150 pounds, isn’t going against some guy that’s 400 pounds. Today there are three weight classes, just due to entries. Typically we run women’s, men’s and youth so nobody is going against each other unless they’re equal.”
The event was held on the Northeast end of the Exhibition building in front of a full room. The afternoon started with a rules explanation by Brandon Olafson, who served as an official and fellow organizer of the tournament.
Arm wrestling has been involved at the Prince Albert Winter Festival for multiple years. DaSilva says there was a lot of interest from new arm wrestlers during registration.
“It’s a very welcoming area, lots of turnout. I had questions, they were answered right away. It seems to be a packed house here. People obviously know we’re here and that makes me feel good that we’re obviously doing good for the community.”
sports@paherald.sk.ca
