Update: A previous version of this article stated incorrectly that forestry is a department under the arts and science faculty, when it is a standalone faculty. The Varsity regrets the error.
Jessica Kaknevicius is sheathed in steel from toetips to shins. Standing atop a cantilevered log, she swings an axe high above her head and strikes it deep into the wood until she splits it in half. The gear is required for her favourite event, the underhand chop, and even though it’s Saturday, she and her teammates got up before dawn for a full day of lumberjacking in the freezing temperatures.
“You’re trying to keep warm. You exert yourself, you exert yourself, then all of a sudden you’re cold again,” she tells me from an armchair in the forestry department lounge, amid understanding nods of from teammates Adam Kuprevicius and Jorge A. Solorzano-Filho.
What was once back-breaking work is enjoying a renaissance as recreational sport. Chainsaw maker Stihl sponsors national competitions in Canada and the U.S., in what its website trumpets as “a made-for-TV format.” Indeed, ESPN has broadcast timbersports since 1985.
Woodchopping is also making a comeback at U of T. Adam decided to revive the Timbersports Club in 2006, after chatting with Lakehead lumberjacks at a forestry conference. (The last time U of T had a team was a dozen years ago.) Anyone can join, but unsurprisingly, most of the 20-odd members name it as their major.
Not Jorge, who’s in the eighth year of his PhD on tropical rodents of the Amazon. He says he just wanted to try something new. “It was the first time I did anything like this, the first time with an axe between my legs, just hoping not to cut off my feet,” he says. “At the end of the day your leg is in one piece, and you had a lot of fun.”
In Canada, college-level competitions are run by the Canadian Intercollegiate Lumberjacking Association. Unlike the national competition, which crowns a single champion, CILA is all about the team. Points are assigned by fastest times, and schools are ranked by the total points their athletes accumulate on all individual, pair, and team events. Each member has to step up for every event, even if they’ve never seen it before, much less practiced. In one competition, U of T was up first for an event they hadn’t ever done.
“You just watch the other teams and learn to do it,” shrugs Jessica. “Even though we don’t have the training, the people there really support us,” she says. “The other schools cheer for us, and we had so many people come up to us and say, ‘We’re so glad Toronto’s back.’”
Tools of the trade include axes, chainsaws, and sundry manual saws along with protective gear. Colour-coded safety equipment regulations go from long pants (code green) to “full assembly” for code-red chainsaw events, which require certification. Fair enough, when the aim is to swiftly cut through a block of wood and drop a chainsaw with the motor running. When my line of questioning turns to the physical condition and knowledge of power tools required for timbersports, Adam interjects: “It isn’t all about axes and saws.” CILA’s events have much more variety than the slice-and-dice Stihl competitions, and include events like the water boil, pole climbing, and snowshoe races. Host schools are also free to offer tug-of-war, though it doesn’t count for points.
A lumberjacking weekend begins with travelling and settling in on Friday. Events run all day Saturday, and exhausted competitors party away the night. Sunday is the trip home and bonding over sore muscles. “It’s pretty intense. I trained a lot for football and hockey, and this was brutal,” Adam says. “For standing block chop, which is the way they used to chop down trees, let’s say if you don’t finish in a short period of time, it just gets harder.”
Top lumberjacks from each CILA school get a chance for personal glory: battling for spots on the pro (and paid) summer circuit. U of T’s fledgling club can’t compete with other schools’ resources and experience, but these three don’t seem too bothered. “We barely got together for that first competition,” Adam says. “Now that some people have been to competitions, they can coach the others.”
CILA runs four events per year. The ones U of T were able to attend, at McGill and Lindsay, Ontario, take place during the short, cold days of December and January. Jorge pulls up a powerpoint presentation of the team’s exploits. One photo shows an athlete hurling an axe at a target, in his shirtsleeves, against a snowy backdrop. “That guy’s not wearing a coat,” I say, half-questioningly.
“It just gets in the way of the throwing,” Jorge replies, and adds quickly, “It only takes a minute.”
The Timbersports Club will set up practices every other weekend at Joker’s Hill, a U of T property in York. Interested? Write to [email protected].
