At a glance
This Friday, when 70-year-old Craig McSherry places his elbow on the arm-wrestling table and locks hands with an opponent, little else will matter.
Not his age. Not his many past achievements in the sport. And not the size and speed of his opponent.
All McSherry plans to do at this weekend's Arnold Classic Arm-Wrestling Challenge is stick to his strategy and put up a fight.
McSherry thinks he's the oldest of more than 260 qualifiers in this year's tournament, but he doesn't tolerate being underestimated. Arnold Classic Arm-Wrestling Challenge Arnold Fitness Expo Stage, Greater Columbus Convention Center, 400 N. High St. www.arnoldsports festival.com 9:30 to 11 a.m. Friday 9 to 10 a.m. Saturday $20 at the door For a complete schedule of Arnold Sports Festival events and locations, visit the website
“I’m good enough that there won’t be anybody there who can take me for granted and look past me,” said McSherry, a native of the Dayton suburb of Kettering Craig McSherry, arm-wrestler
who now lives in Gentry, Arkansas.
He began competing in 1975 and has traveled the world to arm-wrestle. McSherry has five national arm-wrestling championship titles to his name and, when he was 56, won the 2004 World Arm-Wrestling Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
This year, however, will mark his debut at the Arnold Sports Festival competition, which is organized by United States ArmSports, one of two major associations for armwrestling in the country.
“I’ve competed all over the world, but the Arnold, which was in my backyard, I never really got around to it,” said McSherry.
His career began more than 40 years ago when his brother, Brian, signed him up
“I’m good enough that there won’t be anybody there who can take me for granted and look past me.”