Logging show features top competitors

Some of the top logging sport athletes will compete this weekend at the Forest Festival Logging Show at Loop Field.

While the competition is no longer a STIHL Timbersports qualifier event, the company still supports the contest and athletes will use results to "build their resume," Branden Sirguy, an organizer and former competitor, told the Journal.

The event will have up to 16 men competing in the "Super Six" championship and 12 women in the "Featured 4" championship.

The Super Six events are the Spring Board Chop, Stock Saw, Standing Block Chop, Single Buck, Underhand Chop and the Hotsaw.

The Featured 4 events are the Stock saw, Standing Block Chop, Single Buck and the Underhand Chop.

"Spring Board is always a crowd favorite," Sirguy, who operates Olympic Lumberjack Productions, said.

It combines chopping and high climbing, and contestants chop two springboard placements that allow them to climb up and reach higher parts of the tree.

The spring board contest, like other competition events, showcase skills traditionally used in logging, Sirguy said.

"Every one of the skills are rooted in the woods," he said.

Loggers needed a way to get to the soft, upper wood of a tree. Some trees in the northwest, such as Sitka spruce, have butt swell, an expansion of the lower trunk that's much wider than the normal swell of a tree trunk. The spring board technique is perfect for reaching the tops of these trees, according to Sirguy.

Sirguy grew up in Western Washington and frequently attended logging shows.

He said he loved building forts as a kid and was drawn to the wood chopping contests. He met lumberjack competitors in college and decided to try the sport.

Sirguy had always been an athlete and trained daily after work for competitions.

"I took it very seriously," he said, spending 20 to 30 hours a week preparing.

His hard work paid off. Sirguy represented the U.S. three times in 2010, 2011 and 2012 internationally with STIHL Timbersports World Competitions in Austria, Norway and Holland.

He transitioned from competing in logging shows to producing them, still taking his role seriously.

Sirguy said the best logging shows ensure the contestants have a level playing field. This means carefully overseeing the wood used in the contests.

"Some shows do a better job than others," he said.

A knot in some types of wood can destroy an ax.

Mason County's Logging Show is known for its "world-class effort," according to Sirguy.

He spent the past eight to nine months preparing wood for the show, he said.

"Everybody is chopping the same size wood," he said. "I feel it's highly important."

There are also four open events at the show – Speed Climbing, Tree Topping, Axe Throwing and Birling (log rolling).

The vendor area will have chainsaw milling demonstrations.

The Logging Show's opening ceremony is 1 p.m. Saturday and the show is free.