Glen sets never before seen times
Local woodchopper Glen Gillam put in a blistering display to set times “they’ve never seen before” at the Stihl Timbersports World Championships in Norway.
Glen, competing in the team event with the Australian “Chopperoos”, returned to Australia on Wednesday with a bronze medal around his neck.
It followed the Chopperoos producing the fastest time but a heart-breaking penalty costing the hot favourite the chance to defend their world title.
The 34-year-old who started his woodchop journey at the Warragul Show, reflected it was “an incredible experience to be part of in terms of team building and character building”.
Glen said “I set blistering times that they’ve never seen before” of 11.2 seconds and 11.3 seconds in the underhand chop. The previous best times were 17 to 18 seconds.
“I put my best foot forward as part of the team,” he said. “I’m super excited. As a team, we competed especially well.”
The team event sees four athletes compete in four disciplines – stock saw, underhand chop, single buck and standing block chop.
The Chopperoos smashed Belgium and Austria in the heats to storm into the semifinal of the 23-team event at the 11,500 capacity Hakons Hall in Lillehammer, Norway.
The Aussies finished well ahead of Poland in the semi-final but an early start in the change between two disciplines – Glen’s underhand chop and singlebuck – saw the referees call for a video review.
In a devastating blow, Glen and his team were handed a 15-second penalty to give Poland the shock win.
Australia’s rivals New Zealand won the final against Poland in a time of 51.76 seconds. Australia produced 47.06 seconds in the minor final against Canada to secure bronze.
“It was a little bit disappointing, but at the end of the day it’s sport. There’s always something that can throw a cannonball along the way.”
“It was my first time on the team but we’ll come back with more determination and aggression to take first place.”
Glen is certainly keen to join the Chopperoos at the 2018 world championships.
“I’ll fight it out at qualifying again next year. It’s opened my mind to a greater part of the world.”