The Colby Echo

Issue date: 4/29/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Chris Hoder

In the history of the Colby woodsmen's team and the hundred-year history of the Dartmouth College Outing Club (DOC) there has never been a weekend quite like the one that ensued in Hanover on April 24-25. Indeed, not only did the DOC-founded in 1909-celebrate its centennial this year, but it also hosted the 63rd annual Woodsmen Weekend, a competition that featured the Northeast qualifier of the Stihl Timbersports Collegiate Challenge as well as the first-ever Stihl Timbersports women's collegiate lumberjack event.

The occasion was notable enough in and of itself, certainly, but Colby's own Sara Hutchins '09 made it monumental for the Mules, winning the women's event outright. Hutchins defeated eight other lumberjills from regional schools in three Stihl Timbersports professional disciplines to take the title.

"In the Stihl competition, I was really excited that the women would get a chance to compete," Hutchins said. "The northeast region is usually the strongest in terms of teams, and has the most competitive women's teams which is why we were the only region to have the women's competition."

The women's lumberjack event featured the underhand chop, the stock saw (which involves making two cuts, one up and one down, on a log with a chainsaw) and single buck (where the competitor cuts through a round log in the shortest time possible using a crosscut saw), all done in a head-to-head style.

Hutchins came in third, first, and fourth respectively in each event, yet it was just enough to win the Challenge.
"Overall I beat the [University of New Hampshire (UNH)] girl by one point, which was pretty exciting," Hutchins said. "I was surprised to win because I didn't win every event, but I competed consistently through all three, which is really important when you only have three events that count."

With the title, Hutchins won a $500 scholarship from Stihl and a Keech racing ax. She outsawed, outchopped and outbucked fellow lumberjills from State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF), Finger Lakes Community College, Paul Smith's College, State University of New York Cobleskill (SUNY-Cobleskill), Unity College, University of Vermont, UNH, and of course, Dartmouth.

Yet for all her prowess Hutchins wasn't the only star of the show for Colby's lumberjills. Indeed, the Mules came in second place overall at Woodsmen Weekend and just missed winning the whole thing by a mere four points out of a possible 1500. For starters they won the log roll competition and Emma Balazs '09 then "schooled everyone"-Hutchins' words-in the chain throw with a time of 1 minute 15 seconds. In addition, the jack and jill team (featuring men and women) placed third out of six teams total. Said Hutchins, "Madeline Gordon '11 did some extreme running with the men's size weight of 40lbs for the packboard relay course."

On the men's side, Tom Nicol '09 and Theo Papademetriou '11 performed well in the underhand chop, Steve Tatko '10 and Tom Nicol '09 held their own in fire build, and overall the Mules did well in the crosscut saw event.

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