The New Zealand Timbersports team Jason Wynyard (left), Adam Lowe, Robert Dowling and Kyle Lemon are competing at the World Championships in Liverpool. Photo / Supplied
The New Zealand Timbersports team Jason Wynyard (left), Adam Lowe, Robert Dowling and Kyle Lemon are competing at the World Championships in Liverpool. Photo / Supplied
Rotorua's Kyle Lemon is set to rip in with the New Zealand STIHL Timbersports team at the World Championships in Liverpool this weekend.
The team of four logger sports athletes are the reigning world champions, led by prolific sportsman Jason Wynyard, who has carved out a decades-long career in woodchopping.
They will compete in a series of disciplines against the clock and 12 other nations, including New Zealand's traditional rivals Australia, as well as Canada and USA, on October 19-20.
A fast-paced, yet physically demanding competition, the 22 qualifying teams will compete head-to-head in six disciplines; springboard, stock saw, standing block chop, single buck, underhand chop and the hot saw.
Lemon said he was feeling "pretty relaxed" about the event.
"For the most part I'll remain relaxed until game time. It's exciting knowing the world champs have rolled around again so fast and the challenge of competing against the best in the world is a great feeling. I love a good challenge.
"Training has been good. I have recently rolled out of another international event so training just continued. Timbersports is not your usual A&P wood chopping competition. The events are slightly different so you adjust your training to suit. There is no substitute for chopping, so that's what I do for training. I find that as I get older I find myself spending considerably more time stretching and warming up."
The Rotorua police officer said balancing work and training was a bit of a balancing act.
"It's certainly not easy. I work shift work and at times I don't always manage to fit everything in, but I do what I can and things seem to happen, but it always comes off the back of hard work and sacrifice."
Rotorua's Kyle Lemon. Photo / Supplied
The three-time World Championship winner said his career so far had been "a fantastic ride".
"It's great that STIHL created this timbersports competition as it is the only World Championship teams series there is. There is no better way to gauge your performance than competing against the best there is. New Zealand punch well above their weight at this level and have won this event four times ... but Aussie have won four times also.
"We are going there to win, and obviously the thought of winning again is great, but there is a huge challenge ahead of us with some great nations that have made huge improvements over the years and the gap has closed to basically nothing.
"One mistake and you are out so we have to be on our toes and ensure we complete mistake-free runs to give us the best opportunity to be there at the end. We all have a role in the team and we have had several training camps leading up and things are going well.
"This year I have been training for the underhand event in the team. It is my preferred discipline but I have also been training on the stock saw. It allows us to have some flexibility and change things around if required," Lemon said.
Team captain Jason Wynyard was feeling the pressure in the lead up to the championship.
"We've trained hard going into this competition, we're all driven to win. We all love the pressure of competing, so we're looking forward to getting on the ground in Liverpool to see what the other teams are bringing."
Hailing from Greymouth, West Auckland, Invercargill and Rotorua respectively, the team train together as frequently as possible to refine their technique and refine their own skills with their own personal training.
Preparation focuses on power and accuracy to ensure precious seconds and every swing of the axe is used to full effect. One competitor even draws on Crossfit training to be competition ready.
STIHL New Zealand spokesman Stace Hall wished the team all the best.
"We'll be eagerly watching the team compete. We know how relentlessly they train, fitting it in with their family lives and work lives, so it's a thrill to see them compete on the world stage."
