Local Canadian arm wrestling champ looking to build the sport

North Bay's Donald Burns says it was an amazing feeling to become a national champion.  

"It was quite the adrenaline rush," said Burns. 

"It was pretty neat to be in front of that crowd and win that title." 

The 45-year-old construction worker by day just recently captured a gold medal at the Canadian Arm Wrestling Championships in the 154 pound class at the event held recently in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. 

Burns won in the left hand and came second in the right hand in his weight division. 

Burns, who turns 46 in August, has always loved arm wrestling but did not start taking it seriously until about four years ago. 

"I always arm wrestled as a kid, around the house, and at school," recalls Burns. 

"I lost touch with it and then a friend of mine was involved in a pretty big event and he connected me with Eric Malcolm who was running a club at the time and I started training with them. I just branched out on my own after I had a super match and started my own club in North Bay."

Burns, who works with local strength coach Chris Merkley, says you have to put in a lot of time training.

"You have to be on the arm wrestling table all the time, especially in practice," he said.  

"I travel all over Ontario taking part in practices with other clubs across the province. You cannot be successful just training with the same people over and over," added Burns who is a former hockey goaltender. 

Burns, who now runs the Gateway Arm Wrestling Club, hopes his success on the national stage helps grow the sport locally.   

"We are trying to build our club, we are up to 25 members now, which is good for North Bay," said Burns about the group that trains at his garage.  

"We are always trying to grow it and encourage more people to come.

"We train twice a week at the garage along with strength training we do with trainer Chris Merkley as well and try to incorporate that into our team," he said.  

Kids are involved as well. Burns says he has spoken to Seth Compton, who has asked Burns to come and teach arm wrestling at OutLoud as well. 

Despite some misconceptions, Burns insists arm wrestling is safe. 

"A lot of people as scared they will break their arm or get injured but there are very safe ways to arm wrestle without injury," said Burns.

"That is the first thing we teach people to arm wrestle safely to avoid those injuries." 

Anyone interested in joining the club can go to the club's Facebook page HERE