Woodchopper wins

Eddie Waterhouse cut his way into another win at the Paparoa A&P Show last week.

Waterhouse chopped a ‘‘very hard’’ block of willow to win the C grade 275mm underhand championship on Saturday.

He competed against seven others who travelled from Auckland and as far as the Far North.

The next woodchopping competition for Waterhouse will be the Paeroa Highland Games this weekend.

‘‘Hopefully the wood at Paeroa will be a bit more like cutting through semi-soft butter rather than hitting a brick wall,’’ he said. The chopping programme features events for all ranges of axemen, including handicap events where learners get to start early.

More experienced choppers start later and try to overtake their fellow competitors.

The programme will feature Jack and Jill sawing, underhand and standing chopping, concluding with two men cutting the butchers block.

Some of New Zealand’s premier axemen and women will compete.