STIHL Announces 2012 Lumberjack Season
OutdoorHub 01.25.12
STIHL Inc., creator and producer of the premier lumberjack sports event, the STIHL Timbersport Series presented by Ram Trucks, announced today the competitors, dates and locations of the 2012 U.S. season, which will culminate in the U.S. Championships in June. For the second year, the Ram Truck brand will be the presenting sponsor of the Series. Also for the second year, the STIHL Timbersport Professional Series will be produced in tandem with the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Collegiate Series, with qualifying competitions to be hosted at five college campuses across the nation in the spring. The Great Smoky Lumberjack Feud in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., will host the highly-anticipated STIHL Timbersport Pro and Collegiate Championships June 1-3, 2012.
Professional and collegiate qualifiers will be held at North Carolina State University, Oregon State University, University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, Montgomery Community College and Dartmouth College with the Outdoor Channel, ESPNU and TUFF TV cameras onsite to film the action. Schedule details are available at www.stihltimbersports.com.
“We’ve produced the STIHL Timbersport Series since 1985 to determine the most-skilled lumberjack athlete,” said Brad Sorgen, producer of the STIHL Timbersport Series. “As the wood-chopping action ramps up again this March with one of our most competitive fields yet, fans from all over the country will witness the top professional lumberjack athletes chop and saw for a slice of the U.S. Championship title.”
The Series features the nation’s best lumberjacks, challenging them in the ultimate test of strength, endurance, stamina, tool skill and agility. Arden Cogar Jr., a civil defense trial attorney from West Hamlin, W. Va., returns to the STIHL Timbersport Series for his 25th season to defend his national title as the 2011 STIHL Timbersport Series U.S. Champion. Daniel Jones, a recent graduate of Haywood Community College, will make his debut among the pros this season after winning the 2011 Collegiate Championship, which gave him an automatic spot in the 2012 Pro Series.
Additional former collegiate competitors who have moved up into the pro ranks and will compete again this season include Will Roberts from Cortland, NY, Nathan Waterfield from Cherry Valley, NY, Logan Scarborough from Polkton, NC, and Adam LaSalle from Fairplay, Colo. Additionally, three sets of father-son lumberjacks will compete this season, including Paul and Matt Cogar (cousins of Arden Cogar), Mel and Jason Lentz and Mike and Matt Slingerland.
“We’re thrilled to host the STIHL Timbersport Series Pro and Collegiate U.S. Championships,” said Rob Scheer, owner and president of the Great Smoky Mountain Lumberjack Feud. “Since many of our lumberjack performers have also competed in the STIHL Timbersport Series, this opportunity promises to provide fans with a double dose of lumberjack excitement and entertainment.”
The STIHL Timbersport Series pro competition consists of six professional lumberjack disciplines, the hot saw, single buck, springboard chop, standing block chop, stock saw and underhand chop. Held in conjunction with the Collegiate Series, the qualifying rounds pit the top eight lumberjacks in the region against each other with the top four pro athletes from each advancing to the STIHL Timbersport Series Pro Championship at the Great Smoky Mountain Lumberjack Feud June 1-3. These four individuals will not only compete against other competitors from around the country for the championship crown, but will also join together to represent their regions in the STIHL Timbersport Relay Competition. In addition to receiving the ultimate bragging rights in lumberjack sports and a Ram 1500 truck, the top U.S. competitor also advances to the World Championship in Lillehammer, Norway Sept. 8-9.
In 2003, STIHL created the Collegiate Series to help develop future U.S. pro competitors. The Collegiate Series travels to college campuses across the country with the ESPNU cameras to seek out the best amateur athletes and has grown from five participating schools to 55 in the last nine years. At each Collegiate Series event, the participating schools select their best lumberjacks/jills to go head-to-head in four disciplines, the single buck, stock saw, standing block chop and underhand chop using professional rules and professional-sized wood with the ESPNU cameras catching all the wood-chopping action. The competitor with the most cumulative points after all four disciplines advances to the STIHL Timbersport Collegiate Championship.
The Collegiate Championship, held every year in conjunction with the STIHL Timbersports Pro Championship, pits the five regional collegiate champions and one wildcard pick against each other. The collegiate champion not only wins an automatic spot in the Pro Series the following season, but also a spot competing on the rookie relay team in the 2012 STIHL Timbersport Series World Championship held in Lillehammer, Norway Sept. 8-9.
Established in 1985 by STIHL, the number-one selling brand of gasoline-powered handheld outdoor power equipment in America*, the STIHL Timbersport Series, billed as the Original Extreme Sport, attracts the world’s top lumberjack athletes in a competition based on historic logging techniques. The Series is seen by millions of viewers annually in more than 62 countries on networks such as Eurosport, Outdoor Channel and ESPNU.
Get the latest information, stay up to date on news and competition and access behind-the-scenes photos and videos by joining the STIHL Timbersport Series community online and on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
The 2012 STIHL Timbersport Series schedule and competitor roster is included below.
