Sutherland wins state title at Iowa Fair

DES MOINES - Winning a state title in arm wrestling at the Iowa State Fair earned Cheyenne Sutherland the nickname of ‘Monster.'

Granted, the name of the competition is Monster Arm Wrestling, but when one wins a championship in one's first appearance, a beastly nickname is sure to follow.

Sutherland, age 21, who works at Car Doctor in Washington, spent the summer in a garage under the tutelage of Steve Barnes, a retired Washington resident. Barnes has been on the Monster Arm Wrestling circuit for 42 years, competing in 36 different states and overseas. As the oldest contestant, he came away from the state fair with two third-place trophies, one for each arm. Sutherland just wrestled with her right arm.

'A lot of it is about leverage, technique and how you set up,” Barnes said.

'It took me all summer to figure it out, but I got that part of it down,” Sutherland said. 'I finally got it down.”

She definitely figured it out, defeating a 15-time champion on the way to the title. Although there were a lot of nerves.

'Remembering all the baby steps he taught me is tough, especially when you get up there and you're getting ready to wrestle with all the people around, things leave your mind for a minute, so then there's a panic,” Sutherland said.

'I told her the butterflies will go away after she got her first match done,” Barnes said. 'They were doing a documentary on me at the state fair and they put her in it, so that made her more nervous. Iowa Public television was also filming so that made her even more nervous yet.”

The event is held in the cattle barn because it's air-conditioned and it holds about 3500 people.

In Colorado in 1976, Barnes met the guy that invented the monster arm wrestling table.

'He talked me into trying it, telling me it was different than wrist wrestling,” Barnes said.

It is different, with each competitor grabbing a device that looks like the handlebars on a bicycle. An elbow pad is adjusted for the height of the competitors' arm length. The elbow must remain on the pad. There is no time limit.

'A match doesn't happen as quick in monster arm wrestling,” Barnes said. 'I think it gives everyone more of a chance.”

The state fair had seven classes for men, three categories for women - flyweight, lightweight and heavyweight. Sutherland won the lightweight title.

It is a double-elimination tournament. Sutherland lost her first match with the 15-time champ, but defeated her the second time.

'I didn't tell her she had won 15 times,” Barnes said. 'I didn't want her to have that in her mind.”

'I just saw her at my level,” Sutherland said. 'Now I'm a champion too.”

'Cheyenne had the best technique of all the women I saw,” Barnes said. 'She did really good for her first time. She is the third woman champion I have coached.”

'There are so many things to remember,” Sutherland said. 'Even though I got first place, I am far from perfect in it.”

A humble champion is one who knows how to improve. She also used a trick of her mentor.

'One thing I do when I go to make my move is give a loud yell,” Barnes said. 'She's the first woman I've coached that does that too. She gave a good one to win. I told her she has to get mad at herself when she goes to make that final move and she did that.”

'I think that yell gives me an adrenaline kick,” Sutherland said. 'I needed it towards the end. I'm pretty sure the yell intimidated quite a bit.”

Sutherland has a shirt that says ‘Expect no mercy' and 'Cheyenne did not show any,” Barnes said.