The Portage Winter Classic Armwrestling Championship took place yesterday at the Central Plains Rec Plex. It saw competitors from across the province in attendance competing in the categories of men's right (hand), men's left, women's left, and women's right. Participant Tanner Jenkinson from Treherne finished in third place in both the men's left and men's right. He talks about what got him started in the sport of armwrestling.

"Well my dad used to do it when he was younger," says Jenkinson. "Just back home, I was armwrestling some of the strong farmer boys. I beat a couple of them and my dad was like 'Hey, there's a tournament next weekend and you're 18 so you should go'. So, I went, got second-last, and fell in love with it right there."

21-time National champion Ryan Espey was the organizer of this event and believes it will now be an annual competition held in Portage.

Jenkinson also describes what it has been like to watch this sport grow over the past few years.

"It's awesome to see," says Jenkinson. "It seems like every practice in Winnipeg there are more new people almost every week. It's really good to see, I'm glad to see the sport growing. I want to see it get really big."

For the full results see below:

Men's Right - 17 competitors
1st - Andrew Grant, Carberry
2nd -Justin Pagdato, Winnipeg
3rd - Tanner Jenkinson, Treherne
4th - Robin Boyachek, Portage la Prairie

Men's Left - 16 competitors
1st - Andrew Grant, Carberry
2nd - Robin Boyachek, Portage la Prairie
3rd - Tanner Jenkinson, Treherne
4th - Justin Thomas, Winnipeg

Men's Grand Champion - Andrew Grant

Ladies Right - 3 competitors
1st - Michelle Tillett, Petersfield
2nd - Amanda Bourget, Carberry
3rd - Macy Kettle, Winnipeg

Ladies Left - 3 competitors
1st - Michelle Tillett, Petersfield
2nd - Amanda Bourget, Carberry
3rd - Macy Kettle, Winnipeg

Women's Grand Champion - Michelle Tillett