{"id":102825,"date":"2026-03-17T11:24:50","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T15:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=102825"},"modified":"2026-03-17T11:24:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T15:24:50","slug":"councillor-espey-triumphs-at-arnold-sports-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/councillor-espey-triumphs-at-arnold-sports-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Councillor Espey triumphs at Arnold Sports Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Renee Lilley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Portage Graphic Leader A Portage la Prairie city councillor and veteran arm wrestler has returned from one of the world\u2019s largest strength competitions with a trio of medals and a renewed focus on a world title. Ryan Espey secured two gold medals and one silver at the Arnold Sports Festival, held recently in Columbus, Ohio. Competing in the event for roughly the sixth time since 2001, Espey claimed the top spot in the left-arm open division \u2014 the professional class \u2014 and gold in the masters left-arm category for competitors aged 40 and older. He rounded out his performance with a silver medal in the right-arm masters division. &#8220;It was overwhelming,&#8221; Espey said of the festival, which sees approximately 250,000 attendees pass through&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F03%2F17%2Fcouncillor-espey-triumphs-at-arnold-sports-festival%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Renee Lilley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Portage Graphic Leader A Portage la Prairie city councillor and veteran arm wrestler has returned from one of the world\u2019s largest strength competitions with a trio of medals and a renewed focus on a world title. Ryan Espey secured two gold medals and one silver at the Arnold Sports Festival, held recently in Columbus, Ohio. Competing in the event for roughly the sixth time since 2001, Espey claimed the top spot in the left-arm open division \u2014 the professional class \u2014 and gold in the masters left-arm category for competitors aged 40 and older. He rounded out his performance with a silver medal in the right-arm masters division. &#8220;It was overwhelming,&#8221; Espey said of the festival, which sees approximately 250,000 attendees pass through... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F03%2F17%2Fcouncillor-espey-triumphs-at-arnold-sports-festival%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Councillor Espey triumphs at Arnold Sports Festival - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/councillor-espey-triumphs-at-arnold-sports-festival\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Councillor Espey triumphs at Arnold Sports Festival - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Renee Lilley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Portage Graphic Leader A Portage la Prairie city councillor and veteran arm wrestler has returned from one of the world\u2019s largest strength competitions with a trio of medals and a renewed focus on a world title. Ryan Espey secured two gold medals and one silver at the Arnold Sports Festival, held recently in Columbus, Ohio. Competing in the event for roughly the sixth time since 2001, Espey claimed the top spot in the left-arm open division \u2014 the professional class \u2014 and gold in the masters left-arm category for competitors aged 40 and older. He rounded out his performance with a silver medal in the right-arm masters division. &#8220;It was overwhelming,&#8221; Espey said of the festival, which sees approximately 250,000 attendees pass through\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/councillor-espey-triumphs-at-arnold-sports-festival\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-17T15:24:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/councillor-espey-triumphs-at-arnold-sports-festival\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/councillor-espey-triumphs-at-arnold-sports-festival\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Councillor Espey triumphs at Arnold Sports Festival\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-17T15:24:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/councillor-espey-triumphs-at-arnold-sports-festival\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":373,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/councillor-espey-triumphs-at-arnold-sports-festival\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/councillor-espey-triumphs-at-arnold-sports-festival\\\/\",\"name\":\"Councillor Espey triumphs at Arnold Sports Festival - 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