Woodchips fly at 60th annual Woodsmen Competition

On January 25, the quiet of bucolic Macdonald Campus was replaced by a symphony of saws, an aria of axes and chorus of chainsaws, as it hosted the 60^th annual Intercollegiate Woodsmen Competition.

Some 130 woodsmen and woodswomen from seven universities and colleges vied for individual, doubles and team honours in traditional woodsmen events that included axe throwing, log rolling, pole climbing, water boil, snowshoe race and, of course, lots of chopping, sawing and cutting.

When the sawdust settled by day’s end, the teams from Mac had earned a couple of third-place finishes, with both Mac’s Men’s A team and Mac’s Women’s team finishing on the podium – with the latter missing the second-place spot by only six points. The Men’s B team finished seventh out of 12 teams.

On the women’s side, top performances included Andréanne La Salle winning the super swede;  a second place in snowshoe for Léa Taillandier; second place by Danielle Duquette in single buck;  second place in quarter split by Léa Taillandier and Chantal Puenter; and second place by Kathryn Landry and Leslie MacKinnon in underhand chop.

Men’s highlights included Alexis Mailloux’s first place and Jonathan Salama-Siroishka’s second place in the chainsaw event; a win in the standing chop block for Vincent Desaulniers and Alex Ratté; second place by Victor Labelle in snowshoe; and second place for the Men’s A team in the team crosscut and pulp toss events.

The team will be heading to Dalhousie for the last competition of the season on February 9.