Bookmark the NEW luewwd.com!
LUEWWD stands for League of Upper Extremity Wrestling Women of Durham.
How we got started:
Like every good idea this one was marinated in Bourbon and cooked around a dinner table. In March of 2010 Dirty (aka Diana) had been skimming the Washington Post and stumbled across an article about women’s arm-wrestling tournaments that were raising funds for local non-profits. By the end of the evening we had 6 board members ready to take the bull city by the horns.
Founding members:
Diana “Dirty” Barden
Tonya “Van Diesel” VanDeinse
Kristin “South Paw” Lukasiewicz
Sara “Ginger Snapps” Veneables
Jana “The Mountie” Bradley
Emily “Knuck if you Buckeye” Williams
How it works:
- 8 contestants find 4 friends to make their entourage
- They all dress up in a themed costume
- On the day of the event, the entourage moves through the crowd heckling for ‘votes’ (aka. MONEY!) from the audience
- Contestants arm-wrestle 3 rounds in a tournament style bracket to become the LUEWWD Champion
- The contestant raising the most money is awarded Madame Moneymaker
- Judges pick the contestant and entourage with the best costume/character and deem her Durham Diva
- Most of the time the crowd gets bold and offers money for a chance to arm wrestle contestants, judges, their friends, spouses, etc. Since the point of the event is to raise money we certainly encourage this behavior…but we’re not cheap!
- All proceeds are donated to local organizations who serve women and girls
Did you know there’s a National Collective of Lady Arm Wrestlers? Because there is, and LUEWWD is part of it! Check out CLAW USA, and all the strong-armed good they’re doing across the country with other leagues like us!
