Country
Great Britain
Date of birth
Janyary 7, 1974
Started armwrestling
I live in the town of Blackburn which is in the County of Lancashire in the North West of England.
I have been pulling since 1987 when I entered my first event as a young teenager in Manchester.
Weight
90 kg
Toughest opponent
I would say the Toughest Opponent I have ever faced is the same as many other successful Armwrestlers and other combat athletes............myself !!!
Nerves and self doubt are the Armwrestlers biggest adversary and must be mastered and controlled before you can become a true Champion.
The most powerful Opponent I have ever faced across the table however, would have to be the 220 pound version of Mr. John Brzenk Jnr. in the overall class of the US Open Pro-am Event in Lake Tahoe USA earlier this year. John was bigger and stronger than I have ever seen him before and it was like hitting a WALL !!! HE IS TRULY AWESOME!!!
Pound for Pound Andrew "Cobra" Rhodes in Louisiana 1999 was also immorally strong, he was excellent that day and practically unbeatable.
Toughest match
Apart from numerous "Man of the Night" pulls with my team mates at the NAWF Monday night training sessions or any "Brew Match" with my training partner "Wise Grip" Andy Barker in my garage at home I would have to say the two minute 48 second tear up in order to beat Bill Sinks of USA, for the -80kg World Championship Bronze medal in Thunder Bay , Canada in 1998...............I still have not recovered.
Merits
World champion 2001 -85 kg right arm, both at the worlds in Italy and in Poland!
Multiple British Championship Titles including Overall Titles on both Arms between 1992 - 2001, 2 Time defending European Middleweight Champion, Multiple World & European Championship Silver and Bronze Medallist on both arms. Winner of more than 35 international titles captured on either arm at various weight categories from more than 15 countries. I have also won numerous domestic tournaments since 1988 in the UK at different weight categories. I have won over 450 trophies at last count 2 years ago.
Best training advice
Find a technique which suits your physical make up as a puller ie. your individual genetic strengths and work it hard, until it becomes a lethal Table Weapon. Then train the weaknesses steadily around it, without ever neglecting your signature pulling style. Champions are GOOD at most things and EXCELLENT at something.
Favourite armwrestler
My favourite Armwrestlers are Elaine Pickup (my World Champion sister) Alison Cox my fiancée, aswell as Andy Barker, Michael Holland, Austin Clark and my boys at the NAWF club. These guys are the ULTIMATE they are my best friends,training partners and I am super proud of them and love them all very much. Outside of my Club I would have to mention Pascal Girard of Switzerland, Bill Frank of Germany, Robert Redden of the USA, Tzvetan Gashevski of Bulgaria, Georgio Riello of Italy and Yoshinobu Kanai of Japan. My upmost respect for wrestling ability would have to also go to Kurt Niyazi of Turkey, Andreas Rundstrom of Sweden, Craig Tullier of the USA and the incredible Sylvain Perron of Quebec who is absolutely immense.
