Axemen descend on Rotorua for woodchopping weekend

Some of the world's best axemen and women are preparing to chop it like it's hot this weekend.

The three-day Rotorua Axemens' 50th anniversary event at the Rotorua A&P Show this weekend will include a New Zealand versus Australia team series, youth, veteran, open and women's championships and there will be five world titles up for grabs.

New Zealand team member Kyle Lemon, of Rotorua, said it would be the first time Rotorua had hosted the transtasman battle.

Each team of seven will race to complete a series of woodchopping disciplines, including underhand, stand end, single saw and double-handed saw. There will be three rounds, on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, to decide an overall winning team.

Lemon said the rivalry between the two countries was as fierce in woodchopping as it was in any other sport.

"Australia beat us 2-1 at Easter in Sydney. The teams usually finish each race within a couple of seconds of each other, it's always close and certainly exciting to watch.

"We're all pretty good mates outside of it, even during the day we all get on well, but the moment the race starts that's all out the window.

"Everybody in the team just needs to focus on their own task. If everybody can do that and be mistake free, then we'll be there. It's really about eliminating mistakes," he said.

The New Zealand side are desperate for a victory, having not won the annual encounter since 2015. They were in good form recently, however, beating Poland in the final to win the Timbersports World Championships in November.

Woodchopping is a sport which attracts a wide variety of athletes. Lemon's 10-year-old son Braythyn is competing in the under-16 division, while Rotorua's Reg Davis is the oldest competitor entered at 78.

78-year-old Reg Davis, of Rotorua, will be the oldest competitor at the Rotorua A&P Show woodchopping competition this weekend. Photo / Stephen Parker

Davis started competing in the 1970s.

"I was driving a logging truck at the time in Napier. I happened to come into the bush and there was a bush gang of choppers. They asked if I wanted to have a go - I got interested and started training.

"I enjoy the camaraderie mostly, you get all the old ones along and have a chat, until the race starts. It's a common interest between all of us. I do standing and underhand, but underhand is my favourite," Davis said.

Other events include the Sonny Bolstard and David Boldstard Memorial chops, which are world title events named after former Rotorua axemen.

There will be a range of woodchopping disciplines throughout the three-day event, but the tree felling world championship was always a crowd favourite. In this event the axeman cuts a small pocket in the side of a pole and jams a wooden board into the hole. After the axeman has climbed on to his first board he then cuts another pocket and so on. Once up on his top board he proceeds to cut the block on the top of the pole.

The full schedule of events can be found on the Rotorua Axemans Club Facebook page.