News & Events
STIHL® TIMBERSPORTS® World Championships Set for Ireland in September
History was made on Wednesday 24th September, when the National Ploughing Championships hosted the inaugural STIHL® TIMBERSPORTS® World Championships to be held in Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, where 15 of the World’s top teams competed for the accolade of World Champion.
Cuffesrange, Co. Kilkenny also created another piece of history, when, for the first time, an Irish team competed at the World Championships against the top athletes in the World.
The Irish squad which have only been active in the STIHL® TIMBERSPORTS® Series since 2006, have already experienced great success in this physically demanding sport with many of the panel being placed in competitions all over Europe, most notably Wesley Monaghan (Meath) who took first place overall in the Woodfest in Wales last June.
The Irish panel made up of Team Captain, Ruari O’Shea (Kildare), Wesley Monaghan (Meath), Patrick Henehan (Roscommon), Alec Spain (Laois), David Cahill (Galway), David Mullins (Cork), Seamus Ryan (Carlow) and Eamon Burke (Tyrone). Eamon who is based in Australia got a late call up to the squad and was absolutely thrilled, “this is the opportunity of a lifetime to compete for my country and I would like to thank Origo (distributors of Stihl power equipment) for giving me this opportunity”.
The STIHL® TIMBERSPORTS® Irish National competition took place on Tuesday the 23rd of September which decided not only the National Champion, but also the athlete that went on to represent Ireland on the World stage at the World Championships on the 24th of September. New Irish champion is Eamonn Burke. He broke a European record in the standing block discipline.
World Championship participants must qualify through National competitions in order to compete in Ireland in September, so competition for places is hotly contested. Countries participating at the Worlds include New Zealand, Australia, USA, Canada, Austria, Germany, Great Britain, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Poland, Spain, France, Denmark and a team from the Benelux countries. The STIHL Timbersports Series first came to Ireland at The National and World Ploughing Championships in 2006 has proven to be hugely popular both with competitors and fans alike. David Bolstad from New Zealand successfully defended his World Championship crown first worn in 2007 in Germany.
The six STIHL® TIMBERSPORTS® disciplines involved in the series are made up of the standing block chop, underhand chop, springboard, single buck, the Stihl stock saw and the hugely exciting and high performing hot saw, which sees the athletes cut three cookies of a predefined thickness from a horizontally anchored wooden block with a diameter of 46 cms as quickly as possible. This chainsaw that has the engine of a small motorcycle and a chain speed of 240km/h places huge demands on competitors but is most definitely a crowd favourite.
Lumberjack sports originated in Canada, the USA and New Zealand, where lumberjacks held local competitions amongst themselves and in 1985, Stihl Inc. USA and the sports channel ESPN initiated the Stihl Timbersports Series in the United States of America. In 2001, it made its way across the water to Europe and has had many very successful seasons since.
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008.
