Kamloops nurse strong-arms her way back to competition
After 16 years away from the sport, arm wrestler returns and goes pro
It’s great to be paid to do what you love. But after quitting the sport of arm wrestling for 16 years, it was like winning the lottery when Angie Rose struck a five-year contract with the World Armwrestling League: $1,000 per event, $1,200 for travel, and up to $2,000 in bonus money.
“Being a paid pro is, oh yeah, every arm wrestler’s dream,” said Rose, a practical nurse in Kamloops and mother of three. “It’s an expensive passion and the offer to become pro doesn’t come along every day. Anybody who’s in any kind of sport knows it’s not cheap when you’re travelling.”
Born in Merritt, Rose’s family moved to Quesnel where she was intrigued by the arm-wrestling competitions at Billy Barker Days (an annual family event celebrating gold rush heritage). At 17, she won her first competition, beating veteran arm wrestlers along the way.
“I was always interested in strength-related sports,” Rose said.
“I was genetically strong and a bit of a tomboy. I started going around B.C. to all these tournaments and winning.”
From there it was on to the World Wristwrestling Championships in Petaluma (near San Francisco), where she finished third. Some Canadian championships followed.
“Then I got married and moved to Prince George in 1993.”
Returning to Petaluma in 1994, she finished first in right and left lightweight divisions.
“Then I started having my kids and started getting into barrel racing,” recalled Rose.
She’d loved horses since she was a little girl in Merritt and rodeo sated her competitive nature.
“That’s when I took my 16-year break from arm wrestling,” the 50-year-old said. “I really never thought I’d ever get back into it because I was so involved in horses. I was obsessed with that. It was something competitive, I love to compete.”
But, as they say, never say never. A move to Kamloops in 2012 meant the horses had to be stabled. Rose missed having them in the backyard. So she sold them, hit the gym, and began watching Game of Arms, a reality TV series about arm wrestling.
“All of a sudden, that old itch came back. I thought to myself, man, y’know? I should go to a tournament and see if I’ve still got it.”
Parallel Welding Fabrication in Quesnel jumped on board as a sponsor, CB Performance Horses in Training paid some bills, then came the offer to turn pro in late April. “I guess I’m kind of making up for lost time. Ever since I’ve been back it’s just kept going and I’ve been hair-straight-back absolutely loving it.”
Rose will face Tamara “Crazy Canuck” Mitts, an Ontario bartender, on June 14 at Supermatch Showdown Series 403 in Cleveland (streamed on Bleacher Report Live).
Then she heads to the nationals in Quebec and, she hopes, a trip to Turkey this fall to the world championships.
“It’s a passion,” she said, “and so healthy to have something to work toward.”
Rose, who is in the B.C. Armwrestling Association Hall of Fame, is also an ambassador for her sport and urges anyone interested to visit Vancouver Arm Wrestling Club’s website.