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It’s crunch time
Titles on the line as Woodsmen host annual competition

It’s all come down to this.

After yet another strong season on the Canadian Intercollegiate Lumberjacking Association (CILA) circuit, the Dalhousie Agricultural Campus Woodsmen top the points standings as they enter the season’s final event on home turf – the 31st annual Rick Russell Woodsmen Competition – Feb. 6 at MacMillan Show Centre. Action gets underway at 8 a.m. Admission is $5 per person and children under 12 get in free.

The Woodsmen would like nothing more than to clinch a title in front of a house full of their fans. However, they know nothing will be handed to them.

“I think the best way to describe it is ‘cautiously optimistic’,” Connor Morse, a member of the Men’s A team, said. “We don’t want to jinx anything but we’re just going to do our best and hopefully our men’s and women’s teams can win the championship.”

The competition features 13 men’s teams and 10 women’s teams competing in 15 events including chopping and sawing disciplines, a water boil, axe throwing and pole climbing among others. Also, unique to the Rick Russell is dry land log birling, an event which sees two competitors stand on a log while making it roll in an effort to knock each other off.

“It’s a really good show and there’s something for everyone,” Morse, a 19-year-old Agricultural Business student, said.

The Men’s A and Women’s A squads hold slim leads over the University of New Brunswick and the Maritime College of Forest Technology atop the championship points standings. The men won earlier this season at Sir Sandford Fleming College while the women have finished on the podium in each of the calendar’s three meetings thus far.

“We just have to try to get points in each event,” Jessica Swinamer, the women’s A team captain and an Agricultural Business major, said about the Rick Russell. “We can’t disqualify in any events because some points are better than none.”

Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have a stadium full of home fans to cheer you along. The Rick Russell is an event the Woodsmen look forward to each season. The competition typically attracts an enthusiastic audience of both students and other supporters from the public.

“It makes a huge difference,” Morse said. “It definitely gets everyone fired up and ready to go.”

It’s also the only competition on the calendar held indoors and with it falling at the end of the season, it typically features the best times and most fierce competition.

Aside from performing in their back yard, the Woodsmen can also find extra motivation to push for a title by looking at last year’s final standings. The Dal AC men finished in the runner-up spot to UNB while the women were edged by just 92 points by McGill University’s Mcdonald Campus.

“It’s going to be close,” Morse said about the points race. “We just have to do our best in each event and hope it will be enough.”