Team GB return from Milan with their heads held high after delivering a new national record time at the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Team World Championship, the pinnacle of international logger sports.
Eighteen teams from around the world went head-to-head in front of a packed Allianz Cloud Arena on Friday to compete for the World title.
The team format involves four athletes from each country completing four of the TIMBERSPORTS disciplines in a relay, in heats against other nations. The unstoppable Australian team were the ones to beat after cruising to victory in 2024, and they didn’t falter as they delivered their 10th Team World Championship title to defend their crown in front of the excited audience.
And the British athletes were also happy with their performance after a weekend full of firsts for the team. They had the perfect preparation when they secured a record time in the Time Trial before the start of the main event, finishing all four disciplines in just 59.58 seconds, the first time the team had achieved it in less than a minute. The Time Trial effectively seeds the teams and determines who gets drawn against who in the main competition, so a great time is essential for a favourable draw. Unfortunately for Team GB however, they were drawn against Team Canada in the Round of 16, after the Canadian team received a 15 second penalty in the Time Trial, putting them in 12th position.
Once the competition proper started, Team GB were ready to go and delivered another solid performance in the Round of 16 with a time of 1.04:67. Initially it seemed like they were going to be beaten by Canada who secured a 57.24 seconds, however, judge Andy Hall confirmed that they had received a 15 second time penalty for cutting an incomplete disc on the Single Buck and the British team’s disappointment turned to celebration!
In the Quarter Finals, Team GB were then drawn against another heavyweight team in New Zealand. Featuring some of the fastest athletes in the world, Team New Zealand haven’t finished outside the top four since 2016 and are the only team to have taken the World title from the Australians in the last ten years.
The GB athletes knew they would have their work cut out for them and were prepared to give it their all, including the British team’s first female athlete Rachel Ferrington, who was picked over Graham Turner to represent GB on the Stock Saw for the Quarter Finals. It was the first time a woman has competed in the Quarter Finals of the Team World Championship, and the team knew it was a risk to change the team line-up partway through the competition but as the current holder of the Women’s World Record on the Stock Saw, Ferrington has form for delivering blistering times when it’s needed.
This time it wasn’t to be though; just as the whistle blew for the start of the heat, Ferrington’s chainsaw cut out as she picked it up. She kept her cool and restarted it, but the same happened again. On the third time of asking, Ferrington managed to get a complete cookie but the time lost just couldn’t be made up by the rest of the team, and ultimately New Zealand were victorious leaving the British team finishing the competition in 7thplace.
However, the team were proud of how they performed overall and securing a new National record demonstrated how they had improved compared to last year’s 13th placed finish.
“I’m really proud of the team’s improvement over the last year, and whilst we’re obviously disappointed not to finish higher, getting a new National Record is unbelievable. Knocking out Canada is something we’ll also remember for a long time,” said Glen Penlington, the British Team captain.
