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“stand and must be hewed,
By the logger who is stan-
ding atop it.

THIS PROBABLY HAD
ITS ORIGINS WITH THE
NEN BUCKING

ELCOME
to
po. TERRACE

e-

“Rules continued

featuring block chopping
where a small block of thick
timber is placed in a special

LOG CHOPPING

This is another event

wean on WEST: END
FOOD MART.

Terrace |

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4423 Railway Terrace, B.C.

THE

STEWART

1977 "BULL OF THE WOODS” WINNER

x

The Boykas of Port Alberni are the firs? family of
-British Columbia legging sports and, Sunday in
_ Terrace, father Alan and son Michael showed why
they've gained that reputation. Fancy footwork and a
sharp eye won Mike the axe-throwing and fog birling
events; dad took top honors in the Underhand tog
chopping and single hand bucking. As well, Alan won
the "Bull of the Woods” award as top ail-around

sportsman at Sunday's successful day of games.

TIMBER. Often, for -one
reason or another, a log
would have to be cut into
sections and in thick wooded
country the best place to
perform such a chore would

_ be from atop the log.

BUCKING EVENTS

The bucking events grew
from the forest operations,
After the faller had chopped
or cut the tree down, the
bucker went through and did
the necessary trimming of
the log. Rather than trim-
Ming the branches and such
from the trees, the loggers
involved in competition are

required to cut a dise from

. the end of a log, with several

variations.”

There's the--power saw .
- bucking, the hand bucking,

which involves the use of
cross-cut saws and the ob-
stacle bucking, one of the
most exciting. Either way,
the actions thick and heavy
and the chips are flying.
.The obstacle bucking ‘is

the ground. The competitor
is required to run along the
log, cut the disc and run
back. Without touching the
round, The trick here is
balance. Not only does the
logger have to race along the

@ - log, but he must make his cut

while standing atop the
thing, and then run back.
In all events the muscles
strain to drive the chain saw
or double cut saw through
the wood, ahead of the
nearest rival. “4

LTD.

AXE THROWING .

Axe throwing competitions
are always big crowd
drawers when loggers sports
days are held. You have a
muscular logger tensed at
the line, experimently
swinging the axe; loosening
his muscles for the throw.
Suddenly, he brings it back
and sends it flying for the
small wooden target. The

* double blades of the axe glint

in the sun aa it spins its way
through the air. Then, witha

" satisfying thud, the head is

buried deep in the wooden
target.

These are the axes that
were used years ago, before
the advent of such things as
power saws. One, or several
loggers depending on the size
of the tree, would go to work

‘done on a long pole close to AP

with these, straining and

1

sweating, chips flying as the
axe bite deeper and deeper
into the fresh wood, After a
spate of feverish activity, t-i-
m-b-e-r, and down came the
tree.

What more logical way for
a@ man who spent the day
with an axe in his. band to
relax, than with his axe? Ag
time passed, the past-time
grew to be a competition and
then further grew to the
present day and the highly
skilled entrants in the axe

event.

TREE TOPPING

Like the tree climb, tree
topping was born from the
days of the spar ‘built on the
spot. Here the contestants
are stationed near the top of
the pole, their - spikes
securely dug in, leaning back
against the safety belt.

At the word go, each man .

must chop the top of the spar
off. Chips fly as the leggers
perilously lean far out to get
the necessary swing. A few
hard, clean strokes on this
side, more on the other and
down comes the piece of
timber, dropping over fifty
feet to the ground below.
LADIES NAIL DRIVE
One of the Logger’s Sports
novelty events, the nail drive
is a chance for the wamen to
prove themselves. Racing
against each other the
women are required to drive
a spike into a a piece of tim-
ber, using a hammer ‘of

couse.

It takes skill indeed for the
loggers ‘little women’ to
hammer the big nail into the
Wood without bashed
thumbs, bent nails anda bad
case of nerves.

It’s all for fun and offers
some pretty good prizes.

The Sports

The tools involved in those
days were, the long crasscut

LADIES NAIL DRIVING-EVENT

635-91 31.

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‘and burly.

‘ saws and the two-faced

logger's axe and the men.
that used them were rough
The sports
Terrace residents will
witness this weekend, no

.doubt grew out of the

boredom of a logging camp
in the off hours when the men

would gather and put the -

akills they used during the
day to work, in competitions
and just for the fun of it.
The skills involyed in the
thirteen Loggers sporting
events - plus seven Novice
events - that will be featured
by the Downtown Lions
Loggers Sports festivitles,
ore mostly from the old days
logging,
work. wag ‘done’ by hand.’

when much of the