Northern Ireland ArmWrestling

Pinkertons Irish Arm Wrestling
PAA Open 31st January 2026

We are excited to announce that we are less than 15 weeks away from the Highlight of the Irish Arm Wrestling Calendar!

The Pinkertons Irish PAA Open 2026 will be held at the Armagh City Hotel on the 31st of January 2026.

With over 100 entries in 2025 the level of competition was huge. We fully expect this comp to be even bigger and full of surprises in the Pro and Novice classes. As everyone battles to become the 2026 Pinkertons Irish Open Champion.

We are very proud of our ladies class running each year and in 2026 we are hoping to run a seperate Pro and Novice ladies class. (Entries pending).

Left and Right Arm
Classes: Mens Pro: -75kg, -86kg, -95kg, -105kg, +105kg
Classes: Mens Novice: -75kg, -86kg, -95kg, -105kg, +105kg
Men Masters (50yrs+) Open Weight (Subject to numbers)
Ladies Novice and Pro Classes (Open weight) (Subject to numbers)
Overall Winners Class (Time Allowing)
Date: 31st January 2026
Venue: Armagh City Hotel
Weigh In: Friday evening and Saturday morning
Athlete entry requirements: Aged 18yrs and over only. You must be pulling with a club or a Pro who can vouch for your ability to pull safely at the table.
Spectators are more than welcome. (Kids Corner)

More information about the event will be posted closer to the date.

A massive thank you to Pinkertons of Armagh for sponsoring this event again in 2026. We would urge everyone to support this local family business as they support our sport going forward.

Thank you to the PAA for running this in partnership with us, to our training base at the Bodyworks Gym in Armagh and the Armagh City Hotel where we are holding the event.

Anyone new who is interested in taking part still has time to join a club and train up. There will also be side tables to have a go on during the event.

Weekly Arm Wrestling Training in Northern Ireland
Tuesday
The Bodyworks Gym in Armagh (6:30pm)
(Typical training evening Press here)

Wednesday
Bull Strength Arm Wrestling
RTF Gym (Ivan Minev) 7pm-9pm in Lurgan

Ballymoney Arm Wrestling
Sam McMullan (7:30pm) in Ballymoney

There are a few smaller groups are training, so don't hesitate to contact us to find a training session near you.
(Check out the links below for more information)
Facebook link www.facebook.com/northernirelandarmwrestling
Instagram link https://www.instagram.com/armagh_geddon_arm_wrestling/
TikTok Link www.tiktok.com/@ni_grip_armwrestling

We are now the Armagh Geddon Arm Wrestling Club

It is now time to set aside Northern Ireland Arm Wrestling. It was initially formed to promote Arm Wrestling in NI and Ireland. To support new clubs starting up and help people interested in Arm Wrestling to find a club.
In time this may well come back and form a federation under which the clubs will be able to compete in International competitions underneath its umbrella. With the hope of funding towards the Arm Wrestlers costs to compete. (NI & Irish councils do not yet recognise this sport yet. Unlike many European countries)

Training in the Bodyworks Gym in Armagh has sparked a new Era and it requires more attention to help it thrive. The gym owner Tony has been a large part of the success at the Club. Armagh started just over a year ago and now it has a great mix of Professional and Novice Arm Wrestlers training each week.

Armagh have 5 Arm Wrestlers who have competed in the World Championships. Winning 2 Silvers and a Bronze medal. With no doubt of more medals coming in to the Club in the years to come.
Husband and Wife, Julius and Vicki continue to inspire us with competing in Various European and World competitions.
Many of the Armagh team formed the Ulster team who where recently successful against a very strong Munster team.
The Irish Open has been contested for the last 3 years at the Armagh City hotel so what better place to have a club where the locals who watch the competition can go and learn more/take part in the sport.

In 2025 alone the Armagh club ran the Irish open, 2 Super Match days, a demonstration/have a go at the Armagh show and helped at the RTF War Zone Competition. Members have also took part in the European Championships, various other European championships and the Irish Open. Plus some are planning to compete in the World Championships and the British & Irish Novice Nationals in Birmingham.

On the grip side of things, which many of the members also compete, the club also supported 3 stone lifting events in Armagh, a Static Monsters World Championships in Dublin, held a grip day at Revival Crossfit gym in Ballymena and held a Gods of Grip UK league qualifier. (3 of our members qualified for the Finals, one of which won the -93kg class). There are also plans to hold a David Horne WR day and possibly a Hamilton Hex Record day before the end of the year.

All of these events take time and effort to put on and it would not be possible without the support of the Bodyworks Gym and the Armagh members. So thank you all.
I would also like to thank the guest appearances of other Pros from time to time. Their visits inject different types of knowledge and experience. It is something we encourage our members to do as well, by visiting other clubs training sessions around Ireland they will pick up so much.

The Logo is still to be voted on by the Armagh members. It shows a tree growing in the background, signifying the many unseen roots go into the tree and make it stronger. It takes years to get to a high level in Arm Wrestling and you need to be dedicated and have patience. The tree also represents the Armagh county, otherwise known as the Orchard county.
Is it fate that Arm is in the name of the City and County. Lets grow together and bring this sport to everyone to enjoy. Everyone will be at different levels and at different stages of their journey, just like in life.

We strongly believe you should support everyone. No matter what their level or ability. It takes guts to compete nevermind the time, dedication, training, Money (Travel expenses), many losses and a lot of growing pains.

If you love it, stick at it no matter what anyone says. 1 pin at a time!

Join us at the British and Irish Stone lifting Championships in Scarva 13th September 2025
Ulster V Munster

Another Ladies match

Stevie Shanks & Stanley Hamilton breaking Grip World Records on the 1 inch and 2 Inch V bars (IAWA)
Click here for the video

Stanley Hamilton Wins Gold in the -93kg Class in the Gods of Grip UK

Stanley qualified for the UK finals in 1st place but this did not leave him as the favourite to win the final. His below par Axle deadlift at the Arnold classic in Ohio earlier in the year may have shown a weakness.

The first event of the UK finals was the Axle deadlift. The favourite in the -93kg group to win this was Brett Wadsworth, but alas he only managed a lift of 150kg. After Stanley's slip in Ohio he and his team decided not to miss any 5kg increases and lift every time. This resulted in more lifts but proved to be the right move when 180kg went up quite easily. The next lift of 185kg slipped coming up to the knee and Stan wisely said thats it lets move on to the next event. Pete Gallagher took the win with a big 190kg lift. This left the scores as below after the 1st event of 6.

🥇Pete Gallagher 190.0 kg 1000pts
🥈Stanley Hamilton 180.0 kg 947pts
🥉Brett Wadsworth 150.0 kg 789pts
4th Zachary Adams 115pts
5th Chris Evans 42pts

The 2nd event was Stan's favourite and the event he managed to come 2nd on in Ohio. The Vertical (V) bar Medley. He had 1 minute to lift all 3 weights and continue to lift the last weight (90kg) as many times as possible. Stan managed 21 reps of the last 90kg weight, which actually saw him come 2nd equal overall the weight classes on the event. The rest of the -93kg class were unable to get a lift on the 90kg end weight and this handed Stanley a huge increase in points. This left the scoring for the event as below.

🥇Stanley Hamilton 1000pts
🥈Brett Wadsworth 291pts
🥉Pete Gallagher 224pts
4th Zachary Adams 115pts
5th Chris Evans 42 pts

Then onto event 3 which was the gripper hold. Definitely something Stan doesn't train as Grippers are only good for Grippers. (lol). You are allowed 3 attempts and on his first go he managed a hold on Gripper 6 for 14 Secs. This proved enough to win the class, so Stan saved some grip for the next 3 events. This left the scoring for the 3rd event as the below. Probably the shock of this round apart from Stan doing well was Pete dropping points.

🥇Stanley Hamilton G6 14s 1000pts
🥈Brett Wadsworth G6 6s 969pts
🥉Chris Evans G5 26s 890pts
4th Pete Gallagher G5 14s 843pts
5th Zachary Adams G5 13s 839pts

The 4th event after lunch was the 2 Hand 80mm Pinch. This proved very tough for the entire -93kg class with the size of the block pinch. Pete showed great character and managed to take the win with a lift of 75kg. Chris showing his class with a big 70kg lift. Having said the 80mm proved a big test, the -83kg guys didn't seem to have the same bother with the winner of that group being Harley Fuller getting 85kg. The 4th event results were as below.

🥇Pete Gallagher 75 kg 1000pts
🥈Brett Wadsworth 70 kg 933pts
🥈Chris Evans 70 kg 933pts
🥈 Stanley Hamilton 70 kg 933pts
5th Zachary Adams 60 kg 800pts

Event 5 brought a brand new concept to the event. It was a custom made 2 handed pipe hold on a square frame. You were allowed 3 attempts but once the weight left the ground that was an attempt. The minimum time to be counted was 5 seconds. This was the handle that nearly blew the whole day for Stanley. He struggled with the max weight of 70kg for 5 seconds and then struggled with 60kg. Probably because the 70kg took so much out of his fingers. For his 3rd and final attempt he went for a safer 50kg which he held for 26 seconds. A fail on this and it was 0 points and would've spelt disaster for his podium hopes never mind his Gold medal hopes. It was a dig deep moment and a long debated choice on the day with his team of David Gibson and John Timson. Brett showing his quality and adding more pressure holding the 70kg for 10 seconds. At this stage everyone was starting to feel all the events in their hands This left the result of event 5 as below.

🥇Brett Wadsworth 70kg 10s 1000pts
🥈Chris Evans 60kg 9s 859pts
🥉Stanley Hamilton 50kg 26s 779pts
4th Zachary Adams 50kg 25s 776pts
5th Pete Gallagher 50kg 12s 731pts

Then onto the 6th and final event of Medley of lifts. This had 4 stones, 4 Blobs and 4 thick handle dumbbells. The last of which was an official 78kg Thomas Inch Dumbbell. Brett went first and did an astounding 8 lifts. This was pretty special at any time in a comp but at the 6th and final event he really did set the bar high for the other -93kg guys to follow. Stans team were in full study mode as they noticed some people had better success on some of the stones than others and most left the stones to last. Stan consulted his team and started on the stones, which thankfully turned out to be the best approach for him. He managed 10 lifts and got air under the 78kg Thomas Inch Dumbbell but not high enough to count as a lift. Obviously Stan needed to get a face slap in and this came just before he lifted the 50lb Blob. This left the scoring for event 6 as below.

🥇Stanley Hamilton 10 Lifted 1000pts
🥈Brett Wadsworth 8 Lifted 800pts
🥉Pete Gallagher 6 Lifted 600pts
4th Chris Evans 5 Lifted 500pts
4th Zachary Adams 5 Lifted 500pts

The final scoring for the -93kg class was as below.

E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 Final Points
🥇 Stanley Hamilton 947 1000 1000 933 779 1000 5660
🥈 Brett Wadsworth 789 291 969 933 1000 800 4782
🥉 Pete Gallagher 1000 224 843 1000 731 600 4398
4th Chris Evans 737 42 890 933 859 500 3961
5th Zachary Adams 737 115 839 800 776 500 3766

Stan also finished 7th overall the weight classes.

A great day competing against the best in the country. Congrats to everyone who took part. Thank you to Gods of Grip for organising and running the event and i'm sure Stan will look forward to defending his title next year. I know we are thinking of an official Irish qualifier.

Click here for all the results from the Gods of Grip page.

John , Stan, Davy

How can i get into Arm Wrestling?

Is there anywhere in Northern Ireland that does Arm Wrestling?
Can i train with anyone in Northern Ireland for Arm Wrestling?
Is there an Irish or all Ireland competition for Arm Wrestling?
How much does Arm Wrestling cost to train in Ireland/Northern Ireland?

If you have any of these questions or others please get in touch with us via email or facebook or Instagram or Tiktok.

Do you need an Arm Wrestling table or equipment click the buttons below.

Arm Wrestling Store

Arm Wrestling Table

Arm Wrestling Training Table

Arm Wrestling Table Pulley

Arm Wrestling Training Handles

Pinkertons Irish Open 2025 18th January

10 World Records broken at the Bodyworks Gym in Armagh

Bull Strength Arm Wrestling Open Day Saturday the 20th July

DUALLA SHOW (Tipperary) 25th August 2024

https://www.duallashow.ie/arm-wrestling/

Another date not to be missed for your diaries!

We are honoured to be invited to the Dualla show in Tipperary (close to Cashel) on Sunday the 25th August.

There will be Professional Arm Wrestling tables for Adults and Kids to have a go on.

You can even pull against the IFA World and just recently crowned European Champion Adrian O’Dwyer (Ex Irish Olympic athlete).

We will have a few Exhibition Super Matches throughout the day as well.

We also have a variety of fun Grip Challenges for the Adults and Kids to try.

Be sure not to miss the World & Irish Record attempts on a few of the grip handles throughout the day.

Just sign a waiver and its all free to try on the day. €1000's of Grip handles and Items from around the world.

This is to help promote Arm Wrestling in Ireland and to support the new club starting up in Tipperary. They already have the current Irish Pro -75kg Champion Cillian English, along with his brothers, which 3 have already achieved Pro status. We are excited to see how many more Pros/Champions will come out of Tipperary! So don't miss this opportunity to meet up and get involved in the growing sport of Arm Wrestling.

The Dualla show offers a free Circus, Tractor Pulling, Monster Trucks, Stars of Country singers, Tug’O’War and a Dog show along with the livestock and show jumping to name just a few events going on during the day. Check out their website for more info.

@duallashow @leviathan_training Leviathan Training Northern Ireland Grip

Show entry: Adults are €20 and Seniors/Students are €15 with all kids 16 and under are free in (when accompanied by an over 18).

Stanley Hamilton Vs Nik Dodd
Arm Gods Full Match

Full Match click here

Pinkertons Irish Open 2024

Congratulations to all the 2024 Irish Open Champions!

We are now Training every week in the Bodyworks Gym in Armagh

Training every Tuesday from 6:30pm.
Everyone welcome £5 for a day pass to Arm Wrestle with British and Irish Champions, ARM GODS Competitors, IFA World Masters Number 2 and 4 and IFA World Grand Master number 4.

FACEBOOK LINK CLICK HERE

WE ARE NOW ON INSTAGRAM
Click HERE

Arm Wrestling and Grip at the Armagh Show 10th June 2023

We are looking for new Clubs/Gyms in NI

We are traveling to our first Gym in Northern Ireland next Friday 24th February.
We will be in Reps Gym in Omagh for 7:30pm to closing time.
All members or non members (Day pass may apply) are all welcome to have a go on the professional competition tables. You will learn the basic techniques and strengths involved in this unique sport that many are calling a miniature martial art.
So why not come in and see for yourself why Arm Wrestling is one of the biggest and fastest growing sports around the World.
We will have the 3 Arm Wrestlers who represented NI at last years IFA Worlds competition. Bringing home NI/ Irelands first ever World medals. Plus we might have the PAA/BAF Super heavy weight and -100kg Champions in attendance as well.

Reps Gym, 6 Derry Road, Omagh, BT78 5DR

If any other Gyms are interested please get in touch.

PAA Irish Open 2023

PAA Irish open 2023 was held on the 28th January in the Armagh city hotel. We had 69 entries across all the weight classes. Novice -80kg, -100kg and +100kg. Pro -75kg, -90kg, -105kg, +105kg, Masters and Ladies. Please see the tab above for the separate page for photos and click here for the live youtube link.

Silver and Bronze at the 2022 IFA World Arm Wrestling Championships for Northern Ireland

Silver and Bronze at the 2022 IFA World Arm Wrestling Championships for Northern Ireland
Just over 350 competitors from around the World took part over 4 full days of matches in categories ranging from U15, U18 and U21 Juniors, to Seniors and Grandmasters (40 yrs+) right up to Over 70’s Ultra Grandmasters with various Male and Female weight classes. Along with various Disabled classes and weight categories for Male and Female competitors.
Neither Northern Ireland or Ireland have never been represented at a World Arm Wrestling Championship before. This changed last week when 3 competitors from Northern Ireland, David Gibson, Robert Nicholl and Stanley Hamilton, along with Ex-Olympic high jumper Adrian O’Dwyer from Kilkenny travelled to Dieppe in France to take up the challenge against the world’s best at the 2022 IFA World Arm Wrestling Championships.
Due to the registration rules the 3 pullers from NI were included in the UK team which had its biggest ever representation at a World Competition with 35 pullers. The UK team brought home a record breaking 25 medals and finished as the 5th best team at the competition.
David Gibson from Killylea County Armagh was the first ever puller from NI/Ireland to take the stage when he took his place in the Grandmasters (50yrs+) -78kg class on left achieving 5th place. The following day he competed on his favoured right arm and was so close to winning the minimum of a Bronze medal but after a very close call from the 2 referees he was awarded 4th place. David also competed in the Seniors -78kg class on left and Right over the next 2 days of competition but the first 2 days of competition took its toll against the best in the World.
Robert Nicholl from Hamiltonsbawn in County Armagh took to the World stage like a man possessed in the +105kg Masters (40yrs+) left arm class. Robert had the competition of his life finishing just outside the medals in 4th in a stacked class with an Ex-World champion and some European monsters. Robert finished 9th on his not so favoured right arm on the following day. He also competed in the Seniors +105kg Class on Left but again the first 2 days of competition had drained his best but he still managed a brilliant 10th place.
Stanley Hamilton From Tynan County Armagh pulled off a shock Bronze medal in the Masters (40yrs+) -86kg left arm class. He is the current Irish Pro Champion at -86kg, but his first pull was against the current European champion Grzegorz Nowotarski from Poland which proved to be a quick match. It is a double elimination event and he managed to recover from the first loss, adopt his style and pin everyone else to get into the Semi final. He met a very strong opponent, Tero Saarinen from Finland and the match could have went either way. It was still a great result taking Northern Ireland first ever medal at a World Championship.
The European Champion Grzegorz pulled Stanley the following day on Right but this time the result was avenged. Stanley went undefeated in to the Final and met Tero Saarinen from Finland again, but this time the Fin needed to Pin twice to deny Stanley the Gold medal. Stanley tried everything in a nail biting final where again it could’ve went either way, but alas it wasn’t to be and he came home with the Silver. Stanley also competed in the Seniors -86kg class on left and Right. After the first 2 days of competing Stanley had very little left in the tank but he did manage to finish 12th on his Right.
Adrian O’Dwyer from Kilkenny who is the current British Right arm Champion only entered the stacked Senior -105kg right class due to an old injury on his left. Adrian was our best hope for a medal but it wasn’t to be this year. Adrian still finished a very respectable 7th place especially given the quality of the competitors in his class. Adrian will be a World Champion and he has some very promising talent training with him in Kilkenny. Many of the European countries teach Arm Wrestling in Schools.
We would like to thank Arm Gods for their help and to everyone for their support. This takes many years of dedicated training and sacrifice to even get close to this level of competition. Arm Wrestling may seem like an individual sport but it requires a lot of team support. The weight categories ensure you are pulling someone around your own weight. We cant stress enough how this is completely different than the majority view of pulling over a table, plus its much safer once you learn what you are doing.
The Northern Ireland team train in Portadown and we have another big competition coming up on the 22nd of October. England versus NI/Ireland where the top Professionals will go head to head. There will also be a competition for Novice pullers, for Health and Safety reasons you must be training with a club or a Pro to ensure you are competent and safe to pull. Please contact us via social media.

A new team has formed in Donegal

New Shirts available

Click here for the Shirt
Click here for the Hoodie
Click Here for the Sleeveless Shirt