Chainsaws tossed for charity

Sweat, sawdust and steel filled St. Regis Park Friday afternoon as logging competitors from all over the county and state showed their metal at the St. Regis Logging Games.

Competitors paid $1 for each event they wanted to compete in, up to the five events: axe throwing, chainsaw toss, tong throw, the Sweden, and the Jack and Jill. All of the proceeds went to the St. Regis Volunteer Fire Department, but event organizer, Larry Kelley, said that they usually just break even.

The afternoon started off at around 4 p.m. with an ax throwing competition.

Competitors had to throw a full-size, regulation-weight, double-bladed ax at a small target elevated by two poles. There were three rings on the target. Competitors got five points for hitting the center ring, four points for the middle ring and three points for the outer ring. Each competitor got one practice throw and three throws to make as many points as they could. If the practice throw was good enough, competitors were allowed to count it as their first throw.

The ax throw was also the only event with both a men’s and a women’s category. It was dominated by ax-man Jimmy Veach and his daughter Michelle Veach. Jimmy Veach’s victory came down to a sudden death match against a competitor only announced as Robin. The sudden death match gave each of the competitors one throw and Veach defeated Robin with a four-point pitch.

The next event was the chainsaw toss. Competitors took an old chainsaw and threw it as far across an open field as they could. No women competed in this event.

The overall winner of the chainsaw throw was Hank Jensen with a distance of 57 feet, 2 inches. His victory was slightly tainted however, because several competitors did not get a chance to compete after Clint Wolff attempted to launch the chainsaw and ripped the handle off in the process. Without a handle, none of the later contestants could get the same distance, leaving Jensen unchallenged.

Next the competitors tried the tong throw. In the tong throw, competitors stood on the back of a truck and threw a set of tongs onto three logs placed increasingly far away from the vehicle. Competitors had to get the tongs to latch onto the log to get any points. The closest log was worth five points, the next closest log was worth 10 and the farthest log was worth 15 points.

“It’s really important that you do not hit my truck with these tongs,” said Kelley.

Rick Keeland won the event with 30 points while most challengers failed to hook a single log.

The next event was called “the Sweden.” In the Sweden teams of two competitors holding opposite ends of a set of tongs had to pick up a log and run down the field with it. Once they reached the other end of the field they moved the tongs to the other end of their log and ran back to the other end of the field.

Jimmy Veach once again proved himself as a champion logger with his partner Gene Brandon by taking the win in this event.

The final event of the day was the Jack and Jill event. The competitors in this event were teamed up into male and female partners and they started out under the covers in a bed. Then Kelley would yell “Time to get up!” and the competitors would start the event.

First, the male competitor would have to put on a pair of rubber boots and sit down in a wheelbarrow. The female competitor would then wheel her partner to a log and he would begin to saw a piece off of it with a chainsaw while she would wash a pair of jeans. Then the male competitor would wheel his partner back to the bed and irreverently dump her in and jump in himself. The shortest time wins the event.

Rick Reeland and his partner Joni Odeel won the event with a time of 37.30 seconds. Their closest challengers were Travis Simons and Corrynn Cochran, who finished with 37.33 seconds.

“This is total crap,” said Cochran after the event.

At the end of the competition Rick Keeland was given the award for best all-around logger and Hank Jensen was given the award for “Hard-Luck Champion.”