The original extreme sport lived up to its reputation at the 2025 British TIMBERSPORTS Championship this weekend.
Returning to the Royal Three Counties Show in Malvern, Worcestershire, the competition was back with a bang as Rachel Ferrington from Hay-on-Wye produced an awesome display on the Stock Saw to secure a new Women’s World Record.
But the edge-of-your-seat action extended throughout the whole weekend with the first competition, the Pro Qualifier, taking place on Friday 13 June.
Featuring 14 competitors, including four from Ireland, it was designed to sort the best from the rest with the top 6 qualifying for the British Pro Championship on Saturday.
The high stakes certainly delivered an exciting competition with 32 new personal best times, a new Irish National Record for Daragh Clogher and a new British National Record for Gerald Lloyd, both in the Stock Saw. This discipline, where competitors have to saw two discs or ‘cookies’ from a log using a STIHL MS 661 chainsaw, produced personal best times for 28 athletes across the weekend, including Ferrington’s World Record.
Ultimately though, consistent times across all the disciplines is what is needed to reach the top of the podium and all three spots in the Qualifier were taken by the Irish athletes, Gav Thompson, Daragh Clogher and Seamus Ryan. The remaining three to qualify for the Pro Championship were Osian Williams, Martin Price and John Lewis.
Glen Penlington was looking to retain his Pro title for the fourth year in a row on Saturday, but he was anything but complacent about it; “You never know what could happen on that stage. Even the best athletes can make mistakes and I’ve had plenty of issues with my Hot Saw before,” said Penlington.
There were plenty of other competitors looking to take over the top spot, including the 2024 Team GB athletes, Rob Chatley, George Spencer, Graham Turner and Tom Redmond. Spencer produced personal best times in all of the first three disciplines, the Underhand Chop, the Stock Saw and the Standing Block Chop, but his competition was derailed when he received a disqualification in the Springboard after his axe head became loose. He managed to keep his cool and deliver a new National Record in the Hot Saw though, which meant he secured third place overall.
Going into the final Hot Saw heat of the whole competition, Chatley and Penlington were neck and neck on 60 points each, meaning that whoever won the heat would take the title. Athletes are given 60 seconds to warm up their saws before the start of the heat and Penlington looked increasingly worried as his saw failed to start at all during the warm-up period.
When judge Andy Hall issued the starting call of “Athletes ready”, Penlington had no choice but to get into position and pray. But as the whistle sounded his saw started on the first pull and he delivered a blistering time of just 8.73 seconds. Joy turned to panic again though when the judges called a video review in order to check that he had cut three complete cookies giving Penlington an anxious wait. But minutes later, Hall announced that both of the cuts were good giving Penlington the title, much to the delight of his nervous family, including sister Zoe Penlington and girlfriend Georgia Lewis, who were competing in the Women’s Championship on Sunday.
And the Women’s competition continued to deliver the drama, when Rachel Ferrington, who only took up the sport in 2023, achieved a new Stock Saw Women’s World Record in the first heat of the competition, cutting two cookies from the log in 8.82 seconds. That dominance continued throughout the event, recording impressive times, including a new National Record in the Single Buck.
“I actually can’t believe it,” said Ferrington afterwards, “I’m still in shock! I’m never confident that I can win, but I guess I can start to believe in myself more now!”
Georgia Lewis and Cat Eccles rounded out the podium in second and third places. Eccles, from Ayr in Scotland, was particularly pleased after recovering from a serious injury in 2023 to return to the sport and credits her performance to the training she had been doing with her son Logan McCubbin, who was competing in the Rookie competition too.
The Rookie Championship was another fiercely-fought battle, and without the 2024 Rookie champion Jack Morris to defend his title, there were plenty of athletes looking to step up. Rowan Luxton and Zac Powell had been training hard ready for the competition but with six competitors making their TIMBERSPORTS debut, it was hard to predict who would finish where in the results.
Once the competition started though, Luxton, from Llandrindod Wells in Powys, revealed his strength finishing with the fastest times in all five of the disciplines. Guest athlete Nicola Trecarichi from Italy pushed hard but could only achieve second place in the standings, followed by Jake Bufton in third place.
For full results from the weekend’s competitions, visit the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS database.
