STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Series - Championship Preview
STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Collegiate, Professional Series competitors head to Georgia
STIHL Inc., creator and owner of the premier lumberjack sports event, the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Series presented by Carhartt, announced the competitors for the 2008 STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Professional Series second round at the Aflac Outdoor games in Columbus, Ga., June 27-29.
Professional Series gets ready
In the second round, 16 athletes compete in six chopping and sawing disciplines, eight speed climbers race to the top and eight female boom runners "run the boom" for a chance to be crowned a STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Series champion.
"We're very pleased to be producing the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Series presented by Carhartt for the 23rd year," said Roger Phelps, promotional communications manager for STIHL Inc. "The first round at Thanksgiving Point was a great success and we're looking forward to the second round and final event as part of the Aflac Outdoor Games."
The event will consist of three days of competition, with qualifying rounds on June 27 and 28, followed by the championship round on June 29. The top eight choppers and sawyers, boom runners and speed climbers will compete for the title of U.S. STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Series Champion.
This year, the 2008 STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Series world championship will be held in Kilkenny, Ireland, on Sept. 24. The top lumberjack from each of the 18 countries participating in the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Series will chop and saw their way to determine who will be crowned the next world champion.
The top 16 choppers and sawyers for the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Series in Columbus are:
- Justin Beckett - Paxton, NSW, Australia
- David Bolstad - Taumarunui, New Zealand
- Carson Bosworth - Lake Geneva, Wis.
- Arden Cogar, Jr. - West Hamlin, W. Va.
- Brad DeLosa - Lithgow, NSW, Australia
- Gaston Duperre - Shipsaw, Québec
- Michael A. Forrester - Idleyld Park, Ore.
- Christophe Geissler - Aigle, VD, Switzerland
- Martin Komarek - Milevsko, Czech Republic
- Dion Lane - Waimauku, Auckland, New Zealand
- Laurence O'Toole - Doncaster, VIC, Australia
- William F. Roberts - Groton, N.Y.
- Dale J. Ryan - Katoomba, NSW, Australia
- Danny Campbell Staib - Biggenden, QLD, Australia
- Mike Sullivan - Winsted, Conn.
- Jason Wynyard - Massey, Auckland, New Zealand
Collegiate Series set for championship
In addition to the professional second round and finals at the Aflac Outdoor Games, six collegiate lumberjacks will compete in the sixth STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Collegiate Series Championship June 28-29. The six competitors will go head-to-head in the underhand chop, stock saw and single buck, with the winner earning a spot in the 2009 STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Professional Series.
"We created the Collegiate Series to support collegiate interest in the sport around the country and help develop the next top U.S. athlete," said Phelps. "We're very proud to be able to offer this opportunity to college students. We've developed a unique sport that now allows college students an opening into the professional arena of lumberjack sports."
The Collegiate Series contenders are:
- Matt Bolton - Paul Smith's College, Paul Smiths, N.Y.
- Corey Christians - University of Connecticut, Storrs, Conn.
- Adrian Flygt - Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colo.
- Justin Jacobs - Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, La.
- Matt Slingerland - Montgomery Community College, Troy, N.C.
- Benjamin Vandermyde - Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Carbondale, Ill.
The STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Series presented by Carhartt will broadcast on ESPN2 in the fall and the Collegiate Series will be air on ESPNU in late summer.
The STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Series will take place at the Aflac Outdoor Games, which will host national and local barbeque cooking contests as well as sporting competitions for dogs.
The 2008 Pig Bowl event is officially endorsed by the Kansas City Barbeque Society, an organization that has sanctioned almost 300 barbeque contests throughout the United States.
Dog competitions will include champion Agility Dog demonstrations and a "DockDogs" event in which canines leap from a platform across a pool of water. Both the barbeque contest and DockDogs will have open competitions for local residents.
For information about the Aflac Outdoors Games, please visit:
www.aflacoutdoorgames.com
