Add Category
Updated
Forget the vision of beer-bellied men swinging axes at country shows — woodchopping has a new generation of competitors who are making $100,000 a year from the sport.
Woodchopping has come a long way since it was spawned 150 years ago by a $50 bet between two men on a mission to clear land in Tasmania.
Now there are competitions across the world for men and women and serious prize purses to claim, including a pool of $100,000 at the Timbersports Australian Championship on the Gold Coast, an abridged, fast-paced version of the sport.
"Who would have thought 150 years ago that we would now have people who are woodchopping full-time as professionals and making a very good living off it?" David Foster OAM said.
The 61-year-old won 1,000 championships and claims to have become the world's first professional lumberjack in the early 1990s.
He believes the sport is entering a new stage of professionalism with athletic, cashed-up young stars.
"I think I was the first woodchopper in the world where I earned enough from the sport to pay tax on my winnings, my whole income was through woodchopping or sponsorship," Foster said.
"But now there are 20 guys out there who get most of their income through sponsorship and the sport of woodchopping — this is the next stage for the sport."
Mitch Argent, 23, from the tiny country town of Blackbutt, north-west of Brisbane, is one of woodchopping's bright talents.
He has already claimed the 2018 Timbersports Australian Champions Trophy, represented Australia in France, and taken out titles at the Adelaide and Sydney Shows.
Argent said he had made $60,000 this year, and if his success continues it is unlikely he would need his qualifications in carpentry and building.
"I have had a pretty good year and probably have won enough money to make a living out of it — if you are winning you can make good money but it is still good to have something to fall back on," Argent said.
"If you had a lot of wins and picked up a few sponsors you could definitely clear $100,000 in 12 months.
"I always hoped I could make a living out of it but never thought I would and be able to travel to the places I have and compete for the money I do now."
The increase in potential prize money has been accompanied by new pressure to have the best equipment — the most precise axes, sharpest cross-cut saws and fastest chainsaws.
Argent owns 80 axes, all worth around $800 each, as well as a $13,000 hot saw — a jet-ski engine converted into a high-powered chainsaw, which is specific to the niche Timbersports series.
"If you want to be really good you need to have close to $100,000 worth of gear with your crosscut saw, your hot saw and your axes," Argent said.
"You need different axes for every place you compete because the wood and conditions are always different — I take about eight axes to every chop."
Safety gear also adds to the costs, with chainmail socks, competition clothes and the ubiquitous white canvas shoes all pushing up the price of entry to the sport.
But if competitors reach the top of the woodchopping ranks they will more than recoup their outlay.
"You are doing something you love, getting paid for it and get to be part of something that Aussies have been doing for generations. It's a good feeling," Argent said.
Topics: other-sports, human-interest, people, sport, qld, australia, mermaid-beach-4218, brisbane-4000, blackbutt-4306
First posted