The New Zealand Timbersports team: Quintin Fawcett (left), Cleveland Cherry, Jack Jordan and Chris Lord.
The New Zealand Timbersports team: Quintin Fawcett (left), Cleveland Cherry, Jack Jordan and Chris Lord.
A changing of the guard in the four-man Stihl Timbersports Team representing New Zealand at the world championships in Milan, Italy, this weekend has seen three veterans replaced by three “rookies”.
The long-serving team members who didn’t qualify for this year’s selection were Rotorua’s Kyle Lemon (51), Southland’s Bobby Dowling(38) and Taranaki’s Shane Jordan (38).
They’ve been replaced by Tokoroa’s Cleveland Cherry (26), Masterton’s Quintin Fawcett (30) and Otorohanga’s Chris Lord (30).
They will join top Kiwi Timbersport axeman Jack Jordan (29) in the four-man New Zealand line-up.
Team manager Anthony Mildren said the new blood didn’t mean a drop in talent.
It’s Fawcett and Cherry’s first time making the men’s senior team, while Lord first made the team two years ago.
“The average age difference between those two teams goes from 40 years to 28 years of age,” Mildren said.
“That’s a lot of experience to lose, especially when you consider most Timbersport athletes don’t reach their prime until their forties.”
Mildren said what this team lacked in experience, they more than make up for in effort.
“No stone has been left unturned in our lead-up training camps, and I’ve never seen more personal behind-the-scenes preparation and effort than what these four have produced this year.
“They’re our Young Guns – with axes!”
Both Lord and Cherry previously represented New Zealand in the world championships as rookies (under 25 years old), with Lord winning that title in 2019 and Cherry placing third last year.
Jack Jordan has his eye on the Individual World Championship event at the Stihl Timbersports world titles in Milan this weekend.
Meanwhile, Jordan will be looking to go one better than the second place he achieved in the individual competition last year, which was held in Toulouse, France.
It’s an award that’s eluded the current triple World Trophy title holder.
The Stihl Timbersports World Trophy is described as the 20/20 cricket of international wood chopping – a quick-fire, knockout-stages event with four disciplines back-to-back, suited to competitors with superior fitness and endurance.
This weekend’s Stihl Timbersports World Championship is the more traditional, long-form format of the sport, across six different wood-chopping and sawing disciplines.
If Jordan can win against the 12-strong international field, he’ll join the sport’s illustrious company of Jason Wynyard and David Bolstad – the only other Kiwis to win the coveted individual title.
The New Zealand team, which finished just out of the medals in fourth place last year in a 10-strong field, last won the World Championship teams title in 2017.
NZ Stihl Timbersports World Championship Team 2025
