Wood chopper needs consent for champs
It’s probably just as well one of the country’s most promising wood chopping talents requires parental consent to front up at this weekend’s national champs.
Hokitika’s 16-year-old Jack Matthews goes into the competition carrying a bit of a war wound, after nicking his knee with an axe two weeks ago.
“It was pretty bloody,” Jack recalls, opting to see the incident from a funny side.
“I was wearing a lot of layers, like jackets, and when I brought the axe back [while] standing on the axe block it got caught in the jacket and went straight into my knee.”
The Westland High School student is the youngest axeman to qualify for the competition under-25 rookie division, which presented an interesting health and safety consideration for organisers.
Being under 18 meant parental permission was needed so Jack could use a chainsaw in one of the five disciplines he’ll be competing in.
He insisted while he’s “a bit sore” after the knee incident, he is itching to take on his competitors at the Stihl Timbersports National Championships. One is his big brother, aged 18, and others are almost 10 years older than him.
Jack said his injury was “quite hardcase really, especially cos I’ve been using a chainsaw on our family lifestyle block in the West Coast since I was 13”.
“Plus cutting firewood with an axe has been my after-school job since as long as I can remember.
“I don’t think a signature from dad’s gonna make any difference to how I go.”
It won’t be the first time Jack’s used a chainsaw in competition, having won his fair share of age-group chops, but it’s not a regular discipline his age group competes in – hence the irregular paperwork.
He got into the sport three years ago after his curiosity was piqued while cleaning up wood chips from a local competition as a school fundraiser.
Jack got involved with his brother Scott, a sibling rivalry that “makes you try a bit harder”, he said.
Scott won the South Island under-21 championship in 2022, a title Jack has since taken off him two years in a row.
Jack was also the youngest competitor in the New Zealand under-21 team that beat the Australians 3-0 in a series in Adelaide last year.
The brothers kick off both their first New Zealand Rural Games in Palmerston North tomorrow, in a field where “anyone could win it”, Jack said.
“I’ve got pretty big goals to keep going as far as I can as an axeman. I really love the sport.”
The brothers’ sister and parents are also taking the trip north, which could come in handy again for Jack because if the right results come in, he’ll be needing his parents to get him into the local pub for celebrations.