Meadow Lake’s Christopher Brownrigg in action during a past wrestling match. The 60-year-old coach is set to represent Canada at the United World Wrestling (UWW) 2025 World Veterans Championships in Tatabánya, Hungary, from Oct. 7 to 12. (Photo submitted by Christopher Brownrigg, taken by Bill Bain/WCL Photo)

By Kenneth Cheung

LOCAL TALENT

From crash survivor to coach: Meadow Lake wrestler set to represent Canada in Hungary

Oct 3, 2025 | 12:54 PM

When Christopher Brownrigg stepped back onto the wrestling mat in 2022, it started off on a rocky note.

He “got soundly whooped”, he said, explaing that it was decades removed from his high school days and his first wrestling career. That career ended with a drunk-driving crash but now he’s back.

“But I had so much fun, I had to come back and do it again,” he said.

“Wrestling is a sport where you will have far more defeats than you’ll have victories, and it’s part of the process of trying to be a joyful warrior.”

Now 60, the Meadow Lake coach will soon represent Canada at the United World Wrestling (UWW) World Veterans Championships in Tatabánya, Hungary, running from Oct. 7 to Oct. 12.

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He’s one of five athletes travelling overseas for what will be the first time Wrestling Canada has ever sent a masters team to the world championships.

“We’ll be doing our best to represent Canada well and compete in the sport of freestyle Olympic wrestling, and we hope to be the beginning of a long history of Canadian athletes getting a chance to attend the tournament.”

Before this, he earned a gold in Greco-Roman and a bronze in freestyle at the 2023 U.S. Open, added provincial Masters titles in Saskatchewan, and more recently collected silver and bronze at the U.S. Open this year.

In wrestling, “masters” refers to athletes 25 and older, while the “veterans” divisions cover ages 35 to 70 — a category tied to age, not military service.

From setback to second chance

Brownrigg still remembers the day his teenage wrestling career ended: Jan. 3, 1983, when he was hit from behind by a drunk driver and severely injured his back.

The injury never fully healed. He still lives with chronic pain and relies on massage therapy to keep his body moving. Over time, he learned to adapt, shifting his wrestling style to what his body could handle.

Christopher Brownrigg, left, in action during a past wrestling match. (Photo submitted by Christopher Brownrigg)

He went on to serve in the military reserves and as an RCMP auxiliary constable, but wrestling was left behind.

That changed after he moved to Meadow Lake, where he joined Carpenter High School’s wrestling program and the Northern Pikes Wrestling Club as an assistant coach. The sport quickly pulled him back in.

“It has been a very positive impact in my life, and has given me a lot of purpose and a lot of sense of accomplishment to be able to help the kids find the joy of wrestling that I have always found,” he said.

Breaking ground for Canada

The trip to Hungary is more than a personal milestone. Brownrigg says it’s the start of something bigger.

“There’s been a few people that have gone as individuals, but this is the first time that we’ve been able to organize a team,” he said.

“A big shout out and thanks to Wrestling Canada for supporting masters wrestling.”

Brownrigg will compete in the heavyweight “E division” for athletes aged 56 to 60.

His teammates represent a wide cross-section of Canadian wrestling: Colin Wist, a former University of Saskatchewan Huskies wrestler; Owen Dawkins, head coach of the University of Alberta team; Derek Bignel of Manitoba, a two-time U.S. Open champion and World Masters jiu-jitsu gold medallist; and Clint Kingsbury of New Brunswick, a former national team member.

Brownrigg is the outlier, the “audacious” one, he joked, with only two years of high school wrestling before injury sidelined him.

Preparing for competition at his age has been relentless. Since restarting the sport, Brownrigg has shed nearly 60 pounds and built a training routine around coaching, jiu-jitsu partners in Meadow Lake, and even university athletes in Alberta.

“I haven’t got to the point where I can claim to be in shape,” he said. “But I’m in better shape than when I started.”

Community support

The trip is expensive — about $6,000 in travel and training costs — and Brownrigg has been fundraising in Meadow Lake. While grateful for every contribution, one small donation has stayed with him.

A former student he once encouraged to try wrestling sent him $5.

“She was having a bit of a rough time in her life when I came up and talked to her about joining wrestling, and I guess it had made an impact,” he said.

“She didn’t stay with wrestling, but the fact that she cared enough, and tried to reach out and make her part of a team meant enough to her that she sent me $5, which for her was a lot of money.”

“I received some bigger, much bigger donations than that, but I think that’s the one that means the most to me.”

For Brownrigg, competing isn’t just about medals. It’s about showing his young athletes that he lives by the same values he teaches.

“I do this as a coach as much as I do it as a personal athlete, because I believe in leading by example,” he said.

“It brings me closer to my athletes and helps me understand the hardship that I put them through sometimes, but they also understand that I put myself through that same hardship. So hopefully they give me a bit of grace when I’m grabbing at them sometimes.”

Brownrigg will start taking the mat in Budapest on Oct. 7, carrying both Meadow Lake’s support and his own unfinished business from a wrestling career interrupted long ago.

Anyone wishing to help cover the cost of Brownrigg’s trip can e-transfer donations to Moneytre@telus.net.

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com