Today@Dal

This Saturday, the Agricultural Campus hosts the annual Rick Russell Woodsmen Competition, with activities including axe throw, log decking, chainsaw and more.

The Woodsmen team has a long, storied history at the AC. It first started during the 1965-1966 academic year when a small group of AC students travelled to Montreal and accepted an invitation from MacDonald College to compete at their Winter Carnival Woodsmen Competition.

The AC Woodsmen team has steadily grown. With the addition of competitions at the University of New Brunswick and Sir Sanford Flemming College, the AC was getting a lot of experience travelling and competing.

The Agricultural Campus' own competition is named after Rick Russell, who put together the first competition on campus in 1985. Rick enrolled at NSAC in September of 1977 and was a member of the Woodsmen Team. After graduation, he began working in the Hog Barn and stayed involved with woodsmen, becoming assistant coach in 1980 and then head coach in 1981. He remained head coach of the AC Woodsmen team up until his passing in July of 2004. Rick was not just the leader of the AC Woodsmen team; he was an ambassador to the sport and helped improve and regulate the competitions with the formation of CILA (Canadian Intercollegiate Lumberjacking Association).

Today, the Woodsmen Team has grown from the original seven players in 1965 to the current 28 players and four coaches. At the 53rd Annual Macdonald Campus Woodsmen Competition held at Watson Field last month, the Women’s 1 team won 1st overall while on the Men’s side the 1 and 2 teams managed to finish 1st and 2nd overall combining to win 13 of the 15 events in total.

See the full schedule for the Rick Russell Woodsmen Competition.