Ranked #1 in the world and will crush you like a grape.

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Ranked as the number one super heavyweight arm wrestler on the planet, Devon Larratt wants to wrestle anyone in the Ottawa area who dares to challenge him. 

Standing at an imposing 6 feet 5 inches, weighing 240 pounds, and sporting 17 inch biceps, Larratt seems to come by his profession naturally. His grandmother, who competed in arm wrestling tournaments in Alberta, first introduced him to the sport.  “She would come over to our house and I would hang off her arm for hours,” says Larratt.

The skills he learned from his grandmother at the kitchen table served him well and he casually participated in the sport while in high school. It was not until he took a job working the Alberta oil fields that he realized how much he loved arm wrestling.  His supervisor at the time was a world class arm wrestler and introduced him to the professional side of the sport. Larratt’s first tournament was in 1996 and he hasn’t looked back.

His rise to the top of the sport has been lengthy and calculated. He won first place at the Canadian Nationals in 1999 and went on to compete at the international level in both 1999 and 2000. After that he stopped attending the competitions because of the high costs of travel. While other countries recognize arm wrestling as a sport and provide funding for their athletes to train and compete, Canada does not.  Instead, he moved to one-on-one competitions. Larratt explains that he progressed to his current ranking by “going after the guy in front of me, one win at a time.”  In September 2008 he defeated the former world champion in London, UK and has held the number one spot ever since.        

When he’s not competing, he works tirelessly to promote arm wrestling in the Ottawa area. Larratt and arm wrestler Eric Roussin, the current left and right hand Ontario champion in the 242-pound weight division, are club leaders at the Ottawa High Hookers.

Open to the public, the club boasts about 25 active members and is always looking to increase their numbers.  They meet twice a week to work on their techniques and practice against each other. Most times the club meets in a member’s residence to train, but they have been known to gather at local pubs or at Mooney’s Bay when the weather permits.

Larratt also hosts live question and answer sessions online and travels throughout the region and the country hosting seminars and clinics to meet the rising demand for information about the sport. 

One of the reasons that arm wrestling is gaining so much popularity is that it is inclusive.  Anyone can succeed at the sport as long as they are willing to train hard and keep an open mind when approaching an opponent.  “There is something to learn from every match,” Larratt says. “Regardless of the gender, weight, height and skill level of the opponent, training with others is always beneficial and this seems to be what sets the sport apart from the rest.”  He explains that “the key to arm wrestling is to learn from your losses.  Once you fully absorb the reasons why you lost, you can work on your weaknesses and improve your technique”. It takes many years to be comfortable on the arm wrestling table. “Some champions don’t peak until they’re 50 years old,” he adds.    

Larratt believes that arm wrestling will only increase in popularity in the Ottawa area over the coming years. “Arm wrestling is part of the culture of athleticism in Europe and it has steadily increased in Ontario,” he says.  Just last month Oshawa Ontario hosted the Mike Gould Classic, Canada’s biggest professional and amateur competition. 

For those who are interested in trying to beat Devon at his own game he offers this warning. “I am the strongest in Ottawa and I’m willing to arm wrestle anyone who wants to try to beat me,” Larratt says. “I will crush them like a grape.”     

- Erin Caron -