Speed Climb
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No wimps are allowed in this event at ESPN's Great Outdoor Games.
Imagine the strength required to virtually run up a 65-foot pole. If you can't imagine it, just sit back and watch as some of the most athletic competitors in the world race to the top.
Using specialized spurs and a rope sling, these competitors combine nimbleness with powerful legs and shoulders to haul themselves up towards the sky as fast as they can.
Ascending a 65-foot spar pole is only half the goal of this event, though. Climbers must indicate that they have reached the top by striking a line strung between the two poles with their rope or body. At that point they're halfway home. Time is not called until they make it back down. In their descent, climbers are required to "spur" the pole in each of the designated sections of the pole. Freefalling is not an option… though these guys come very close. Time is not called until the climber hits the ground.
After repeatedly scaling the 65-foot pole and cascading down it fast enough to earn his second straight gold medal in the 2002 ESPN Great Outdoor Games, Brian Bartow was taken aside by a medical staffer with a pair of tweezers.
He sat down, doffed his glove and winced for the operation in his right palm.
Yup, Brian Bartow got a splinter.
"I feel like such a wuss," he said.
He squeezed his palm hard to help the digging. Pretty soon the culprit emerged, a tiny, bloody shard of wood. Bartow took it well. The early reports of wussiness, it turned out, were premature.
His consistent speed up the poles did allow him to wear the gold medal for the second consecutive year. Bartow will be going for a three-peat in Reno, Nev. at the 2003 Great Outdoor Games.
Qualifying Criteria
Athletes have been selected for competition in the Great Outdoor Games based on their rankings in the respective disciplines. The top three winners from each of last year's timber events will receive automatic invitations, with the exception of the Team Relay and the Mixed Doubles Boom Run.
Timber athletes are ranked by the Lumberjack Sports World Ranking Association. Rankings are determined by the average of points assigned by regional committee representatives.
Timber terms
Birling
Log rolling
Boom
A long string of logs that are connected end to end, for easy storage & transportation.
Buck
To cut a fallen tree into smaller sections.
Cookie
The section of wood that is severed during crosscut or power sawing events.
Cut-out
To cut over the line marked on wood by the judge that indicates the width of wood to be sawed within.
Drive
Last portion of a chopping event when the axeman places his most powerful hits to severe the block. "he's going for the drive."
Drivers
Power hits in any chopping event used to severe the wood.
Jigger
a slang term (Australia & New Zealand) c meaning "up & down."
M Tooth
Saw with a distinctive pattern of its teeth forming an "M". Each tooth acts as a cutter & raker, with every other tooth reversed, so that both sides of the groove are cut. The chips produced are small & confetti-like. An M Tooth is very efficient in hard woods.
Peg & Raker
A saw with teeth that appear in two "pegs" which cut alternate sides of the groove, a "raker" rakes the cut wood out in long, single strands. With this saw, a single cut can run the entire diameter of the wood.
Pike
Pole used in the River drive competition
Pockets
Holes cut into springboard poles into which the springboard itself is inserted. A good pocket is cut in 4 hits.
River pig
A logger who runs out into jammed logs to open the flow of timber. Also used synonymously for a "river driver" competition.
Scarf
In chopping events, the portion of wood that has been removed from the block.
Slab
A portion of the log, which has been dislodged as a result of a split off to a foothold or running up, of the first chip in the standing event. May result in disqualification. Note: competitors prepare their competition blocks by using "slab nail" around the edges to prevent.
Slide-chop
Technique used primarily by Australian axemen where the top hand slides toward the axe head after the stroke as the competitor raises the ace for the next swing.
Wedger
Assistant used in the cross-cut sawing events who wedges the wood open & lubricates the saw.
