The world's oldest extreme sport gets a popular makeover

This year’s version of the original extreme sporting event has just got over in the US, and TV stations there are getting ready to air the 2014 professional lumberjack contest. Axe met wood as 16 beefy lumberjacks with trunk-like thighs oozing sweaty odour chopped and sawed their way through pinewood at an arena in Virginia. Over two days, the men matched their wits across six events sporting names that would intimidate the faint-hearted: “standing block chop”, “springboard chop” and “underhand chop” anyone? — for nothing much in takeaways beyond pride in their skills.

Many of the participants came from third- or fourth-generation logging families with saw dust running through their veins. Their dour, thoughtful mien is not for nothing. Despite the dozen axes they bring with them, and chainsaws being allowed for two of the events, a lumberjack’s chances are ruined if he saws into a difficult-to-cut dense log known as a bone. So, nature still holds the aces. Logging is a legitimate part of forestry and among the most hazardous professions in the world. So, this extreme sport, which traces its origins to a bet between two loggers in 19th-century Tasmania, caters to the psyche of the men. The grand finale, touch wood, would be held in November at Austria, where winners from around the world converge with axes to grind.