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The hills around Puhoi will be alive with the sound of metal on wood again in January, when one of
New Zealand’s biggest and most popular woodchopping events takes place in the grounds of the historic Puhoi Pub.
The 2020 Puhoi Axemen’s Woodchopping Carnival takes place on Saturday, January 11, with the all-day action starting at 9am, as 45 competitors from Australia and New Zealand battle it out to be the best with an axe or a saw.
This year’s line-up includes several current and former national and world champions, with eight axemen from Australia, six from Stratford in Taranaki, eight locals from the Puhoi club and the rest from throughout the North Island.
Puhoi club secretary and event organiser John Sanderson says the carnival always fills up quickly with competitors keen to take part.
“We never have to ask the Australians over, they just ring up and come over with a few family and friends,” he says. “It’s good to see so many of the best axemen want to come to little old Puhoi.”
Also in the line-up this year are two families entering three generations of woodchoppers – a
grandfather, father and son. One is the Semenoff family from Whangarei and another is coming over from Australia.
“We’ve got a few current world title holders and past world title holders in the Standing and Underhand classes, plus the world Jigger Board cutter coming from Australia and Jesse Whitehead, who is New Zealand’s best Jigger Board cutter,” John says.
There will be 14 different classes throughout the day, with something to keep everyone amused and impressed, from the classic speed events of Standing and Underhand through to the pairs’ Jack and Jill sawing class and the ever-popular axe throwing.
John says the sheer speed of the axemen chopping through their wood blocks can make it hard to judge at times, with time differences between competitors often coming down to hundredths of a second. However, as in many other sports, technology is being employed and any controversial results are now decided by a “third umpire” – an iPad used to record every chop with an app that can freeze the action down to single frames and prove decisively who was fastest.
“The competition is so tight we need video evidence that we can review to just the right spot,” John says. “We’ve got to do things professionally these days, it’s so close.”
There’s a prize pool of several thousand dollars to be fought over, with first prizes in most classes of $100 or $200, and cash prizes, too, for those coming second, third, fourth and fifth.
John says all the prize money is raised by local businesses, suppliers and families from the Puhoi district who unfailingly support the woodchopping carnival, not least the Puhoi Hotel, which stages the event and forms the perfect backdrop and surrounds for the hundreds of visitors who come to watch.
“It’s such a great day out, we get so many people supporting us,” John says. “It takes months to prepare, but we’ll be ready by Christmas and then we just need good weather on the day.”
Underhand, Jigger board and Axe trowing.
The original extreme sport
According to the NZ Axemen’s Association, woodchopping is a heritage sport that dates back to the 1870s, but its combination of athleticism, technique, strength and not a little danger have ensured that it has stayed relevant and popular through the ages.
Historians’ accounts vary over where exactly it started, whether in New Zealand or across the ditch in Australia, or even in Europe, but what is pretty certain is that European settlers clearing forests were swift to start taking bets on who could cut a tree or process a log the fastest.
Those early wagers and contests formed the basis of the sport we know today, and the current events and disciplines are still relatable to fundamental tree felling. Competitions use a handicapping system where the axemen are required to start in order of ability. Novices start first and the better contestants start last.
These are the most common classes for competitive axemen (or women):
Standing
Simulated tree felling. A secured, vertical block of wood has to be cut through from both sides as quickly as possible. Top axemen take less than 20 seconds to cut through a 25cm log.
Underhand
Cutting a log into lengths. The axeman stands on a horizontal block and cuts it by swinging the axe down and severing it with blows that land between his feet.
Jigger board
Tree felling from high up the trunk. The axeman chops a hole in a trunk, inserts a perpendicular board, then stands on that to chop another hole higher up and insert another board. Two or three boards are used to climb to around 2.5 metres, before the trunk is chopped through from the highest board.
Single and Double Sawing
One or two men, or women, use a crosscut saw to slice off a log from a block.
Axe throwing
Self-explanatory – but now becoming an increasingly popular pastime, with specialist clubs and ranges opening in Auckland and Wellington.
Logs for the 2020 festival come from a felled shelter belt at Omaha.
Poplar logs choice for Puhoi
When you’ve got 45 axemen competing in more than 20 separate races, an awful lot of wood is going to be required – around 400 blocks in Puhoi’s case.
The club sources and prepares all its own competition blocks, starting at least three months before the woodchopping festival takes place in January.
This year’s wood block crop came from Omaha Flats, where a shelter belt of poplar trees was being felled, according to festival organiser John Sanderson.
“They’re all poplar wood. We like it because you can cut it pretty fast and it’s a more even wood,” he says. “It’s a spectator sport and you can cut poplar pretty fast, so you get a close competition.”
With the help of local contractors and supporters, Puhoi Axemen first collect the wood, then sort the logs, strip the bark off with a specially adapted machine and wrap them ready for the competition in January.`
“It’s not like cricket, you can’t just pick up your kit and take part, there’s a lot of preparation,” he says.
“We’ve been doing this for three months now and we still haven’t finished, we’re still doing the final touches before Christmas.
“We’re really grateful to all the people who help behind the scenes, getting the wood, lending us machinery and transporting the wood to the arena.”
Although the locals might love poplar, there’s a possibility that the choice of wood might not suit the visiting contingent of axemen from Australia so well.
“They’re used to cutting hardwood in Australia, so it’s quite a change for them,” John says. “Some will find it difficult to adjust, but some will be able to switch their style quite easily.”
Not all the 400 blocks will be used at the festival, but the club likes to have enough so that there are plenty to choose from. Competitors draw lots for blocks in each race to ensure fairness.
Puhoi Woodchopping Festival classes
Underhand – five divisions, A to E
Single Hand Sawing
Standing – five divisions, A to E
Double Hand Sawing, plus teams race, Puhoi v Visitors
Championship Standing
Axe Throw
Novice Underhand
Jigger Board Open
Standing Open
Underhand Open
Jack & Jill Sawing
Championship Underhand
Boys Underhand Chop
Teams Race – Puhoi v Visitors
