Cathy Merrill recently was approached at a Claremont supermarket by a shopper who asked, “Aren’t you the arm-wrestling lady? Can I have your autograph?”
Indeed she was the arm-wrestling lady, and the shopper now has her signature to prove it.
Such is life these days for the Newport woman who six years ago went to the Cornish Fair and had to be begged by a friend to enter the arm wrestling competition and today is a world champion.
The route to the championship, however, is the story that may have begun at a country fair, but it ended up with a victory against a 7-foot-2 Egyptian woman many thousands of miles away in Malaysia, where gas is $1 a gallon, humungous cooked lobster tails are $2.50, a filet mignon is $7 and a five-star hotel room costs $65 a night.
“It’s all kind of surreal,” said the 51-year-old mother of three and grandmother of four.
Since that first venture into arm wrestling, Merrill never has stopped competing and established herself as one of the best in America this summer by winning four different divisions at the U.S. Arm-Wrestling Federation Nationals in Las Vegas.
A big stepping stone to all that Merrill has accomplished was the day she joined Granite Arms of Manchester which is the state’s only arm wrestling club. The members meet once a week for more than three hours where Merrill has worked on her technique wrestling mostly with men.
“She found me,” club founder Badger Drews told Valley News Sports Editor Greg Fennell this summer. “She called me and asked if she could come down. The door’s open to anybody, whether they choose to stay with me or run the gauntlet with somebody else is up to you. She found us, and I’ve been working with her ever since.”
“I wrestle with the guys,” said Merrill. “I can’t beat all the guys, but I learn technique and build up strength.”
After winning the four titles (185-pound and up left-handed and right-handed and the two disciplines for seniors) in Las Vegas, Merrill went all by herself (23 hours) and at her own expense to Malaysia not knowing what to expect. Her coach told her not expect much and don’t worry. “This is you first worlds and maybe this can lead to something better in the years ahead,” said Merrill. “Then when I won a silver and gold, he was like, Oh’ my God.”
Merrill, who doesn’t drink or smoke and runs a landscaping business, said their were over 800 competitors from 52 countries taking part in a Malaysian function hall that was mobbed with fans who were admitted at no charge.
On the first day of completion, Merrill wrestled five times and moved on to the Wednesday competition where she was matched up with the large Egyptian lady in the championship round of the 185-pound and up division. Merrill lost right-handed, “but “I got her left-handed,” said Merrill. Merrill also competed in the senior division finishing seventh right-handed and ninth left-handed.
Merrill, who was feted with a float of her own during the Newport High School Homecoming parade, said she will continue to train and hopes to take part in next year’s world championships which will be held in Bulgaria.
“I go to the gym and left weights to build strength and then I wrestle with the guys,” she said. “It’s good for my morale. I’m having a good time with this.”
Merrill has a goal of being the first women to win four gold in all four disciplines. She certainly wants to once more hear the National Anthem played as she stood proudly after winning the gold in Malaysia.
“That brought me to tears,” she said.
Courtesy of: Valley News