Face to face, hands clasped and elbows firmly planted on the table.
Competitors of all ages showed off their strength at this year’s Armtoberfest, an arm wrestling tournament with an Oktoberfest twist.
The day began with “supermatches”, intense battles for ranked positions.
“It’s the most fun you’ll ever have losing,” says Jake Rohrbacher of the KW Arm and Grip Club.
But professional arm wrestlers weren’t the only ones flexing their muscles at Armtoberfest.
Eleven-year-old Nicky Brooks and her family travelled from Trenton to compete.
She says she’s been training since she was three years old. “I train by doing a little weight lifting and some table time with my sister.”
She says her go-to technique is speed. “I like to hit, meaning right off the start you go really fast.”
One-by-one Brooks beat her opponents, taking her division title and leaving Armtoberfest with bragging rights.
“The biggest thing people say when they start arm wrestling is they didn’t realize how technical it is,” says Rohrbacher. “That’s what it comes down to. You could be the biggest guy at the gym but you could lose to the smallest guy at the arm wrestling table.”
