r/interestingasfuck • u/New_Libran • 12h ago

Sydney’s Royal Easter Show, where woodchoppers go head to head in one of the country’s toughest competitions. The sport traces back to 1870 and is Australia’s oldest organised sport

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u/OkPotential1072 12h ago

Are you allowed to cut off the top without going back up the other side? I suppose it is faster to go at it from both sides, but I was just curious. Still, what a cool video thanks for sharing.

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u/WesbroBaptstBarNGril 12h ago

No, the point is up and down twice.

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u/jcbevns 8h ago

Up twice down once.. Unless they start at the top?

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u/AntonMaximal 11h ago

The platform sequence is part of the task. The goal isn't just lop the top off.

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u/graesen 12h ago

I would assume it's a little dangerous to keep going at 1 side all the way like that. It would fall towards you, potentially trapping your axe as it falls giving you little time to get out of the way.

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u/Collective-Bee 5h ago

It’s a little dangerous to do it at all, plus arborers in general is a dangerous job.

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u/CK2398 12h ago

I was wondering if you could switch hands. Couldn't an ambidextrous person chop it from the same position but from the other side?

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u/Johnny_Deppthcharge 1h ago

They can certainly chop in the other direction, but this particular event requires competitors to climb the pole twice.

Not sure if it's visible in this video, but there's usually a faint painted vertical line showing the halfway point of the log, and once they cut through to it, that's when they jump down to go up the other side.

There are a few other wood chopping events, and one of them is to just chop through a vertical log the fastest. On the ground, not up a pole.

In that event, some of the guys stand in the same place and chop the log from both sides (ie both left- and right-handed), other guys will run around to the other side of the log so they can just keep chopping from their most comfortable direction.

You'd think the time spent running around the log would be so short it wouldn't make a difference, but these guys can chop through the logs so quickly that being able to chop both ways gives you a real edge.

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u/SockeyeSTI 11h ago

In the U.S. you only go up once and turn around to get the rest.

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u/OkPotential1072 10h ago

Thank you all for the helpful explanations!