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Fred’s Restaurant was an exciting place to be Saturday afternoon, July 13, as arm wrestling competitors, both youths and adults, came to Franklin from different states in the region to showcase their strength.

The event was known as the Wolfpack Armwrestling Tournament ’24, and this is the third year the tourney has been held at Fred’s Restaurant.

“We do it every July,” said Jason McFarland, who hosts the event as leader of his group, Wolfpack Armwrestling.

McFarland, of Courtland, has enjoyed arm wrestling since he was a teenager.

“Honestly, I’ve done it since probably high school on the lunch table,” he said, “and then I really got into it about three-and-a-half years ago as far as actually doing competitive (armwrestling).”

For McFarland, the activity is a passion that facilitates friendship and fellowship, both locally and in the region.

“I’ve got my little team, and we’ve got three to seven people, but we also travel outside of town,” he said. “Wolfpack Armwrestling is just about friends.”

When asked what he enjoys most about hosting tournaments, he said, “I actually like just hanging out with people, just communicating, talking.”

His wife, Jamie Lee Connell-McFarland, works at Fred’s, which is the connection that led to the restaurant becoming a tournament venue.

On July 13, the atmosphere in Fred’s was charged with excitement as arm wrestlers competed in the side dining room with a crowd surrounding them, cheering them on and recording the proceedings with their cellphones.

The competitions were also being broadcast on the large television screen above the bar, allowing patrons to watch the action from the other side of the restaurant.

McFarland estimated that 65 to 70 competitors took part in the tournament.

“There were some intense matches,” he said.

Bryce Meadows drove about five-and-a-half hours from where he lives in Princeton, West Virginia, to compete.

When asked if it was worth the drive, he said, “Shoot, yeah, it’s worth the drive. This is great competition out here, and these Virginia boys are tough, they’re tough guys. I just lucked out with what I did and trained hard for it.”

Meadows noted that he placed first in both his weight class, 220 pounds, “and then I pulled higher and won the left hand (for) super heavyweights.”

“Pulled” is the verb used by participants that is synonymous with “arm wrestled.”

Meadows estimated that he competed in around 15 matches in the July 13 tournament, which ran for roughly four hours.

“I think I only lost three out of the 15,” he said.

Meadows said he has been competing “actually probably the least out of everybody here — 10 months. Yeah, it’s not been long for me.”

McFarland was pleased with how the tournament went, and he highlighted a couple of his team members — Josh Harding and Daniel Swords — who helped make the event possible.

He also noted that Wolfpack Armwrestling arranged for four referees to facilitate the tournament. Two of them included Shannon Workman and Stan Walkuw.

Workman said he has refereed for about a year and has been arm wrestling for four years.

Walkuw said, “I’ve been competing for going on five, maybe six years and reffing for about a year, year and a half.”

Following the conclusion of competition on July 13, Walkuw said, “This is always a good tournament.”

“It was good,” Workman added. “This is a good tournament. The kids always steal the show. I love (reffing) the kids because they have a blast.”

The referees noted that the age range of competitors on July 13 was 5 to around 45.

Walkuw said, “My son who’s 3, who’s running around here, probably would have got on the table too, but he was too busy running around having a good time.”

Workman noted, “My boys have been pulling for two years. They love it, they love it. My oldest boy can’t arm wrestle without smiling and giggling. He just loves doing it.”

Workman’s oldest son turns 8 in September.

The two referees shared what they enjoy most about participating in and refereeing arm wrestling tournaments.

“Competing and watching others compete,” Workman said. “If you’re in it for the sport, it’s all about the competition. As a ref, you want everything to be fair and even, you don’t want anybody to feel like they got the raw end of the stick, because too many times I know I’ve done it, (I’ve said,) ‘I only lost because the ref was terrible, not because I’m bad but because the ref was bad.’

“Try to keep it even and fair,” he continued. “You’ll never keep everybody happy, but you do the best you can to get fair starts, and then you let them take care of it after that.”

Walkuw said, “It’s a one-on-one kind of sport, a one-on-one combative sport. You either win or you lose, and then it’s no one’s fault but your own.”

“You learn more from a loss than you do from a win,” Workman said.

“Exactly,” Walkuw added.