Women set three records at Lumberjack World Championships
Two athletes broke women’s marks in chopping and boom running at the three-day timber sports event in Hayward, Wisconsin.
By Maya Lindqvist · Senior Technology Correspondent
3 min read
Women broke three world records at the Lumberjack World Championships in Hayward, Wisconsin, the Associated Press reported. The results underscored the growth of women’s competition at an event where organizers say female athletes have moved from a single discipline into more than 20 timber sports events.
The three-day championships ended Saturday in the small northern Wisconsin community, according to the AP. The field included 66 men and 40 women from 16 states and nine countries.
Karolina Urbanová of the Czech Republic set two of the women’s records, the AP reported. In the Women’s Underhand Chop, she cut through 11 inches of white pine in 21.28 seconds to win the event.
Urbanová also won the Women’s Standing Chop, according to the AP. In that event, she cut through 9 inches of white pine in 19.38 seconds.
The third women’s world record came from Meredith Ingbretson of Hayward, the AP reported. She won the Women’s Boom Run by crossing the water and returning over eight red cedar logs in 13.78 seconds.
The competition features sawing, chopping, logrolling and speed climbing, with spectators cheering the traditional “Yo-Ho,” according to the AP. Athletes also bring specialized equipment, including custom chain saws, sharpened axes and single buck saws; the AP reported that sharpening a single buck saw can cost more than $400.
Organizers told the AP that women have competed at the championships since the first event in 1960. At the start, women competed in logrolling only; they now take part in more than 20 events.
Nancy Zalewski, who has competed for 27 years and has trained other athletes, described how limited the women’s side once was. “When I started chopping I was chopping with the men,” Zalewski told the AP.
The sport’s roots go back much further, according to the championship organization cited by the AP. It says competitive lumberjack events began in the 1890s.
The championships take place at the Lumberjack Bowl on Lake Hayward, the AP reported. The area was once used as a holding pond for logs moving down the Namekagon River.
Around the competition venue, the lumberjack theme extended beyond the events, according to the AP. Children wore flannel, suspenders and lumberjack socks, while brands handed out inflatable axes and toy chain saws.
The AP reported that the area outside the bowl included wood-carving demonstrations, children’s logrolling practice, live music, food trucks and axe-themed activities. Competitor Kate Witkowski told the AP that the sport’s small community shapes how athletes treat one another.
“The culture of it I think is really wonderful,” Witkowski said, according to the AP. “I don’t know any other sports where the athletes support each other like we do here because it’s such a niche sport and because the gear is so hard to come by that we’re all just trying to get better.”
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.