YORKTON - It is quite likely you have not heard about Mas-wrestling.
However, as it turns out Canadians are doing quite well at the sport as recent performances at the World Mas-wrestling Championship July 30 to Aug. 3, in Arkhangai aimag, Mongolia show.
Among the handful of Canadians travelling to Mongolia was Alberta’s Courtney Hollihan who brought back a bronze medal in her second trip to worlds.
Five Canadians were in Mongolia. Mark Barley U80 kg, Liam Innis U90 kg, Andrew Bolinger U125 kg, Jeff Martins 125+ kg, (Justin Lindquist 100 kg had to pull out last minute due to illness), and Hollihan U55 kg female.
“I think our team did very well,” said Hollihan, adding while there “are pockets” of interest in the sport in Canada such as a gym in Calgary where mas-wrestling is featured – it was even demoed at the year’s Calgary Stampede – numbers are not large in Canada in terms of participants.
“It has grown into quite a community here in Calgary. We train a lot together and have a lot of fun. We have also international friends and the privilege to travel to interesting countries often paid for by international sponsors. I think it’s beautiful we are different people united through sport.”
Additionally, Hollihan noted that outside of Calgary there is participation in other parts of Alberta, with “a big hub in Edmonton and a few sprinkled in smaller towns. There are also several people from BC who compete.”
And, on the world stage Canadians come face to face with competitors from Russia and other Eastern European countries where Mas-wrestling in more like our hockey or curling, being taught in schools, and becoming a near way-of-life, said Hollihan.
“So we’re actually doing very well,” she reiterated, giving credit to coach Andrew Bollinger who is always coming up with techniques to enhance performance. “. . . He’s helped everyone.”
So what exactly is Mas-wrestling?
Well it is a sport with an ancient past coming out of Russia Mas-wrestling is the international name used for the Yakut ethnosport derived from the traditional stick pulling game of the Sakha Republic.
Hollihan noted the history of the sport however is more diverse with similar competitions developing independently in a number of cultures.
Mas-wrestling is reminiscent of the Eskimo Stick Pull featured at the World Eskimo Indian Olympics, Norwegian kjevletrekk, Finnish kartunveto or väkikapulan veto probably dating back to Vikig times, as well as the Highland test of strength The Swingle Tree (played with a shepherd’s crook).
For the Inuit the sport mimicked the strength and skills need to pull seals from the ice, said Hollihan, while for the Vikings it copied the motion of rowing their great ships.
A version of the game without the separating board — stick pull — is played in the Arctic Winter Games.
Participants taking part in mas-wrestling competitions sit in front of each other, prop their feet against a board which divides the competition area and tug on a wooden stick – the mas -- making sure to keep it parallel to the board. Competitors are trying to pull the stick from their opponent or to actually pull the opponent to a standing position and over the ‘board’ sort of akin to a solo tug of war.
While admitting mas-wrestling is a strength sport – which was part of what drew her to the sport – Hollihan said power alone is not enough.
“It’s a really easy sport to learn, but a very hard sport to master,” she said. “It’s not just about strength. There’s so much strategy and technique involved. Strength is not enough.”
That said Mas-wrestling demands muscular strength from the hands, legs, back, and abdominals.
The next big test for the top Canadian Mas-wrestlers will be the World Nomadic Games.
The World Nomad Games, which originated in Kyrgyzstan, will take place in 2026 in their homeland in September. Check them out at worldnomadgames.com
