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Future scientists chop for trophy

Published: 24 January 2005

McGill teams are defending champs at Canadian Intercollegiate Lumberjack Championships

Future agronomists and engineers from across New England and Eastern Canada will wage a battle of axes and saws at McGill University on January 29. Some 150 students are combining their brawn and high IQs to compete in the Canadian Intercollegiate Lumberjack Championships at the Macdonald Campus.

McGill has the most at stake at the annual chopfest, as its Woodsmen and Woodswomen are the reigning victors of the 2004 Canadian Intercollegiate Lumberjack Championships. Both McGill teams are eager to hang onto their trophies, since this will be the 45th anniversary of the championships at Macdonald Campus. For nearly eight hours, lumberjacks and lumberjills will use axes and saws to compete in an array of timber sports: axe throwing, log decking and cross-cut sawing.

Where: Macdonald Campus, Watson Field, 21,111 Lakeshore Rd., Ste. Anne de Bellevue.
When: 8 am to 4 pm, Saturday, January 29, 2005.
What: Some 175 competitors from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Maine, New Hampshire and New York.
Thirteen events: Sawing, chopping, log rolling, snowshoeing, axe throwing, pole climbing, water boiling and more.
Defending teams: McGill's Woodsmen and Woodswomen.
Everyone welcome: Free admission, free parking.

Log and roll

Timber sports are quickly gaining popularity among college students across North America. What began as a friendly competition between McGill's downtown and West Island campuses — nearly 50 years ago — spawned an international event with up to 40 US and Canadian schools participating.

"Students are attracted to woodsmen sports because it is different — it's not soccer or lacrosse," says John Watson, who coaches McGill's women's and men's teams. "Timber sports are certainly not something that everyone can do."

The popularity of timber sports extends beyond the collegiate level: lumberjacking is one of the fastest growing sports in the United States. In Australia, where the sport has an almost fanatical following, professional lumberjack athletes can make up to $175,000 annually. The sport has come a long way since it was first conceived back in the 19th century, when men in logging camps would compete to see who was toughest.

Contact:
arboretum [at] nrs.mcgill.ca (John Watson)
Woodsmen coach
514-398-7537

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