Battle of the Arms Tournament returns to Eureka Saturday

With dreams of glory they will come to the First and Last Chance Bar just a stone’s throw from the Canadian border north of Eureka on Saturday, April 24.

Men and women, right-handed and left-handed will travel from miles around to battle for the right to call themselves the champions of the 30th Battle of the Arms, the annual arm wrestling championship held as part of Eureka’s Rendezvous Days.

After having to cancel last year’s tournament due to COVID-19 concerns, organizer, referee and former world champion Matt Phillips is excited to once again bring the tournament back to the First and Last Chance Bar for the 30th time.

“I really love the sport. I have a great passion for it and I like to help and teach others to understand armwrestling and the physics of it,” Phillips said. “It’s the hand, the wrist and the arm. It’s not just all about strength. There’s a lot of technique and knowledge that people need to have before competing. It’s a sport that everyone can enjoy.”

With a weigh in period from 2 to 6:30 p.m., the tournament will get underway at 7 p.m. and is open to men and women ages 18 and older. The double elimination tournament will have nine classes, including men’s right handed divisions for weights 154 and below, 155-176 pounds, 177-198, 199-220 and 221 pounds and above. The men’s left-handed competitors will split up into 185 pounds and below and 186 and above while the women’s divisions will include 133 pounds, and below, and 134 pounds, and above. Competitors will be charged an entry fee by weight division, $25 for the first class and $15 for each additional class.

Trophies and cash prizes will be awarded to the winners in each division as the locally-supported tournament has once again drawn nearly 20 sponsors. Competitors are encouraged to arrive early as the first 50 to sign up will receive free T-shirts and have more time to get pointers and tips from Phillips and other long-time competitors.

While the current closure of the U.S. and Candian border will force several long-time competitors to miss this year’s competition, Phillips says the closure does have its advantages.

“I’m a little concerned about having it while the border is closed. There will be advantages and disadvantages. We will be missing our Canadian friends who have been coming down to the event for years. Without them, it will possibly put a damper on things. However, by not having them come it could mean more locals will give it a try.”

Phillips, the Montana State Director of the American Armsport Association has a long history with the sport, beginning with the matches he would have against his father as a child.

“He would put one finger up and I would do everything I could to try to beat him and I couldn’t, until one day when I turned into a teenager he wouldn’t do that anymore,” Phillips said.

A Bozeman native, Phillips continued to hone his skills until he was routinely defeating Montana State football players. When he joined the Marines in 1985 and was stationed in Hawaii, Phillips made the fateful decision to challenge his sergeant major, then undefeated, to a match during a battalion sport day. The sergeant laughed.

But he wasn’t laughing at the end of the match, after Phillips had defeated him in what Phillips described as the longest match of his life.

The win caught the eye of a fellow marine who, calling Phillips’s form awful, agreed to train him.

NOW THE winner of more than 160 trophies and the 1987 world cup, Phillips is still in love with the sport.

After his enlistment with the Marines ended, Phillips made the move to Montana to become the state director of the American Armsport Association, running more than 85 tournaments and officiating thousands of matches over the years.

He is still sharing his passion for the sport with others.

“When people ask me what it takes to be a good arm wrestler, I always answer with ‘STP,’ which stands for speed, technique and psyche. You have to be extremely fast, know what to do if you get caught in a defensive position and be mentally prepared to take yourself to a place you have never been to put yourself in a position to win,” he said. “It’s a tough sport. It’s not for everybody, but more for a select few. It is a great spectator sport, though. It’s intense, but there is a lot of camaraderie. We are all friends until we meet across the table.”

In addition to the arm wrestling tournament, this year Phillips is also looking to include a trap setting competition at the bar. Competitors will have to race to set six small traps and then spring them all with a stick in battle for prize money and trophies.

“Trading a trapping is the whole premise behind Rendezvous Days, so this event should be a good callback to those roots,” he said.

Now in his 50s, Phillips says this year’s tournament could well be his last serving as director as he intends to turn the position over to friend Cody Evenson, who has been helping Phiilips organize events in Montana since 1998. While he might no longer be a director, Phillips says he will continue to help with the event in the future.

“Thirty years is a pretty good run of being in charge,” Phillips said. “I’ll still come out and help in the future, though.”

For more information about the Battle of the Arms Tournament, contact Phillips at 406-209-4121 or Dave Clarke at 406-889-3443.