Both women and men competed at the annual arm wrestling competition at the Alfred Jenkins Field House Saturday - part of the Prince Albert Winter Festival (Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW)

By Michael Joel-Hansen

Prince Albert Winter Festival

Arm wrestling competition holds strong

Feb 23, 2019 | 4:37 PM

The arm wrestling competition proved to be a popular attraction at the Prince Albert Winter Festival (PAWF) – the longest running winter festival in western Canada.

Men, women and youth competed in the Saskatchewan Arm Wrestling Association (SAWA) sanctioned event on Saturday. Former festival board member Darrell Prokopie said the competition has been a fixture at the festival for as long as he can remember.

“Being a P.A. boy, going to school and that’s many years ago because I am getting up there, this was an event that was part of the festival,” he said.

Prokopie believes the long term success of the event can be traced back to community support that started about 40 years ago.

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“There was a very strong local group who used to undertake this event and again because they were involved with it, they were passionate about it,” he said.

Competitors from all over the province took part, including a contingent from Lloydminster. Kayne Hemsing, who made the trip from Saskatoon, has been competing as an arm wrestler for nearly 20 years and said he was inspired and trained by his mentor Fred Roy of Prince Albert.

“You have many provincial, national, world champions in your city,” he said.

Hemsing said the PAWF arm wrestling competition has a number of factors working in its favour.

“Its always a good turnout, there is always lots of people here watching and it is always a good atmosphere,” he said.

It wasn’t just adults competing Saturday afternoon at the Alfred Jenkins Field House. (Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW)

Hemsing said there are other tournaments in communities around the SAWA circuit but those tournaments don’t take place in conjunction with larger events.

“To add it to a family event like this is huge,” he said.

The Prince Albert Winter Festival wraps up on Sunday, Feb. 23 with a number of other indoor and outdoor events at the Alfred Jenkins Field House including King Trapper competitions like animal calling and ax throwing, sled dog races, a craft show and fish fry.

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MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn