News

Mac women chop down the competition at the 56th annual Macdonald College Woodsmen Competition

Published: 26 January 2016

The sun was out, the saws were out and our Woodsmen teams performed fabulously over the weekend. Thanks to all on campus and the many alumni who helped make the 56th annual Woodsmen Competition a success.

Ste-Anne-de Bellevue, Qc - McGill Woodsmen placed first and third at the 56th annual Macdonald College Woodsmen Competition, January 23, 2016. Twenty teams from seven schools including Fleming College, Algonquin, UNB, Dalhousie, Maritime College of Forest Technology and New Hampshire’s Dartmouth College, competed in 14 different events including chopping, sawing, log throwing, pole climbing, log rolling and water boil.

McGill’s Women’s 1 finished on top of the female division, a scant six points in front of the Fleming team. Stephanie Bélanger-Naud, an agricultural economic student from Brigham, Qc., won an impressive four events (two individual, two team and one doubles event), including posting the fastest time of all competitors (male and female) in the snowshoe event - a full 16 seconds faster than her closest competitor. Other winning events for Bélanger-Naud were the Single Buck, Underhand Chop (with sister Joséanne) and team events Swede Saw and Cross Cut with teammates Ketsia Croteau, Julie MacFarlane, Geneviève Guinos-Coté, Joséanne Bélanger-Naud and Eliane Wubbolts.

Croteau and Wubbolts also made it to the top of the score sheet in the Quarter Split. The Women’s 2 finished fifth in an eight team field.

On the men’s side, McGill’s Men’s 1 placed third with Men’s 2 finishing ninth of 12 teams. Event winners included Gill McDonell in the Snowshoe, Dominic Mercier-Provencher in the Single Buck and the Swede Saw team of Michael Breault, Cameron Burns, Mercier-Provencher, Sebastian Latraverse, Alexandre Adam and Thomas Kuipers.

"McGill came together this past weekend to host a great lumberjack competition on a cold but sunny day,” said Mac Woodsmen coach Kyle Bray. “The women's 1 team squeezed out another overall win while the men stayed consistent and showed they're adversaries who won’t back down without a fight"

Hosted annually since 1961 at McGill’s Macdonald Campus, the Woodsmen teams are a proud Mac tradition.