WATERVILLE — Bob Euiler ended up being shaking in his boots along with his hands were trembling under their flannel shirtsleeves as he struggled to push a roughly 8-foot-long sign up a wooden deck Saturday early morning when you look at the forests outside Colby university.
“Bob, this is much better than the gymnasium!” yelled one of is own teammates from the Maine Maritime Academy woodsmen club.
“Keep pushing, Bob!” stated another.
After almost eight minutes of struggling, pressing and hacking away on wood utilizing a forestry device called a peavey, the log found rest atop the wood deck and Euiler stumbled away, victorious.
“It had been tough, ” he said, wanting to capture his breathing.
The singles sign deck competitors, where Euiler was one of many members, had been one of 15 activities at Saturday’s yearly Mud Meet at Colby College. The meet is a “Jack and Jill” design lumberjack competitors that this 12 months received 20 coed groups of ax-wielding and flannel-wearing wood sports lovers from nine colleges around brand new The united kingdomt and Canada.
In the wood deck competition, participants must move a sign from atop a wood frame down an extended ramp then drive it back up making use of the peavey. Like the other events on meet, it replicates forestry methods from “back inside day, ” in accordance with Colby university freshman Duncan Coles, a part of Colby’s woodsmen team whom finished the event in a remarkable 40 seconds.
“It’s a discovering knowledge, ” stated Coles, 19. “There are some really competitive people, but most of us tend to be right here merely to have some fun to discover that which we can perform. It’s as really serious while you need it become.”
Lumberjack tournaments in Maine date into the 1800s, and Colby university happens to be hosting its yearly event since around 1950, in accordance with woodsmen club coach David Smith. The group meets into the woods on the side of the school’s university everyday during the week, as well as numerous students it provides a substitute for playing more traditional sports.
Drew Martzolf, a junior at Colby, said he got active in the club after playing lacrosse and rugby and “getting too many concussions.”
“It ended up being something i usually wished to test, and I also found an alternative way to focus my competitive character, ” said Martzolf, 21.
Teammate Julia Rogers, 22, stated she additionally had been interested in the woodsmen club after having played highschool recreations and attempting to decide to try something different.
“It seemed cool and I also believed, ‘Swinging an ax — that appears like enjoyable, ” she stated.
The group had a routine of eight joins this current year, including their Mud Meet, including events for singles, doubles and teams. Unlike many lumberjack competitions in the collegiate circuit, the
Colby competitors is “Jack and Jill” style, which means that the participating groups tend to be coed and every must integrate three males and three females.