CANMORE – An impromptu arm wrestling challenge during a friend’s wedding was a pivotal turning point in Annie Beals’ life.
Three years later, the four-time national arm wrestling champion from Canmore nears her toughest challenge yet – when she’ll wear the Maple Leaf at the World Armwrestling Championship, while hoping her spotlight showcases the sport for women.
“It’s thought of as a really macho sport and I didn’t seek this out and I would never have probably and thought I should do arm wrestling professionally because I didn’t even know it was a thing,” Beals said, who previously pictured the sport as an ego boost-induced challenge contested mainly at bars and pubs.
#Canmore’s national champ arm wrestler Annie Beals pulls against the world’s best, Nov. 2-3 in Romania. Give her a follow on Instagram: anniebeals #armwrestling #teamcanada #canadianarmwrestling pic.twitter.com/z2wYFgrsGn
— Jordan Small (@jordiesmall) October 12, 2019
As an avid climber, paddler and registered massage therapist, the 32-year-old arm fighter has natural upper body strength, but quickly realized that crafty techniques and the vast mental game used to pysch out opponents is just as much a part of professional arm wrestling as brute power.
Beals was encouraged to enter a tournament after holding her own at a friend’s wedding in Grande Cache. After her first tournament, Beals was hooked.
“It’s that feeling of doing something and being good at it, that’s where it comes from. I love doing it and, honestly, I like being good at it. It’s that winning feeling,” she said, adding she’s never finished worst than second place.
Beals, originally from England, won four national titles using both arms in two weight classes (60 kilograms and 70 kg) at the Canadian Armwrestling Federation National Championships in July in Edmonton, which qualified her for worlds.
The powerhouse expat is also a six-time provincial champion and the Battle Zone heavyweight champ. She has also been known to accept challenges from confident strangers, regardless of gender.
“If they’ve never arm wrestled before and don’t know what they’re doing, even if they’re much bigger than me, I can usually beat them with speed or technique,” she said.
At worlds, she’ll bend limbs Nov. 2-3 in Romania in the 60-kg (132 pounds) divisions using both arms. She said her right arm is physically stronger and faster than her left, but her left is more controlled and technique orientated; though it feels more natural for her to use her toned back muscles to pull against opponents.
Beals, competitive by nature, is researching potential worlds matchups and thinks she might have a slight edge on the field as she’s relatively unknown in the international scene.
“I’d love to get on the podium [at worlds]. Whether or not that happens I’ll have to wait and see, but I would say that would be my goal,” she said. “I don’t want to be coming 10th out of 12 people, so to finish top three would be an amazing result considering I’ve only been doing this three years and it’s my first worlds competition. This will be the toughest thing I’ve done in sport.”
With the Canadian Maple Leaf over her chest, Beals hopes her presence at worlds will prompt other Canadian women to discover their sleeping powers, much like she did, and take a look into the sport that has fewer women than men.
Currently, Beals trains weekly with the Calgary Rams Armwrestling Club, which she said has the most women members in the province.
“We want to get more women in the sport ... because there’s going to be a ton of women out there who [would be] really good at it, but they don’t know about it,” Beals said. “Even like climbers, there are a ton of climbers here [in the Bow Valley] and the climbers’ strength to weight ratio is usually really good and that helps with arm wrestling.”
To watch Beals compete in Romania, a live stream of the competition will be available at World Armwrestling Federation's YouTube channel. Her Instagram, anniebeals_armfighter, will also be active leading up to and during the competition.
Those interested in helping Beals with flights and accommodation costs can visit her GoFundMe page 'Pulling For Canada'.
