The Original Extreme Sport Will Arrive In France To Name A 2018 World Champion

Canadian aims to win the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Champions Trophy against elite logger athletes from around the world

LONDON, ON, April 20, 2018 /CNW/ - The STIHL TIMBERSPORTS^® World Champions Trophy will see the best logger athletes from around the world go head-to-head in Marseille, France on May 26, 2018. Marseille's iconic MuCEM building next to the city's beautiful harbour will serve as the backdrop as competitors including the reigning world champion Jason Wynyard from New Zealand, Canadian Champions Trophy winner Stirling Hart from Vancouver, British Columbia, French Champion Pierre Puybaret and ten more top athletes from around the world compete for the trophy.

Stirling Hart performing the Single Buck at the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Champions Trophy 2017 competition in Hamburg (CNW Group/STIHL TIMBERSPORTS)

The STIHL TIMBERSPORTS^® Champions Trophy sees the world's best logger sports athletes battle against each other with razor-sharp axes and saws in a series of disciplines requiring power, precision and endurance. Only the best qualify for what is regarded as the sport's toughest competition as they go head-to-head in four consecutive disciplines held in a knockout format. These top competitors must chop and saw through four wooden blocks in less than one minute.

The world's best go head-to-head in Marseille
Competing for Canada will be the Canadian Champions Trophy winner, Stirling Hart, from Vancouver, BC. Hart is a two-time Canadian Champion, and won the first ever Canadian Champions Trophy in 2017. Hart has represented Canada in the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS^® World Championships with Team Canada five times, and consecutively since 2014. The Canadian has his eyes firmly set on a strong performance at the Champions Trophy in Marseille, especially falling just short of the title last year to Australia's Brad DeLosa. Hart says "I am one hundred percent focused on winning this title, there is no question about it. There are amazing competitors there, but I have my eye on the prize."

Among those others competing at the Champions Trophy in Marseille will also be the reigning, and record-holding, World Champion Jason Wynyard. The New Zealander, one of the sport's outstanding athletes, is looking forward to the first international competition of the season. Two more title favourites are France's Pierre Puybaret and Martin Komarek from the Czech Republic. At last year's Champions Trophy Stirling Hart finished second right behind Australia's Brad De Losa, while Komarek came in third. In Marseille more top athletes from the U.S.A., Australia, Poland, Italy, Sweden, Austria and Great Britain will compete.

At the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS^® Champions Trophy the competitors will go head-to-head in the following four disciplines: Stock Saw, Underhand Chop, Single Buck and Standing Block Chop. For the world's best, the Champions Trophy is the ultimate test of power. When the pressure is on, they need to dig deep, perform consistently and hold their nerve throughout the four disciplines in order to be in with a chance of victory.

Rookie World Championship also held in Marseille
Alongside with the Champions Trophy, the Rookie World Championship will take place in the same venue. The world's best up-and-coming logger sports athletes from all over the world will go head-to-head in Marseille. Nova Scotia's Thomas Henderson will be representing Canada.

Dates:
Rookie World Championship: 26 May 2018, from 16:00
Champions Trophy: 26 May 2018, from 19:00

Location:
MuCEM, Esplanade J4, 13002 Marseille, France

About Stihl TIMBERSPORTS^®
Stihl TIMBERSPORTS^® is an international extreme sports competition series. Its roots lie in Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, where workers in the timber industry would hold competitions to determine who was the fastest in a range of wood chopping and sawing disciplines that closely simulated their everyday work. These logging disciplines evolved with time into a series of sporting disciplines that require tremendous athleticism, strength, precision and power. Today the world's best athletes compete in national and international events featuring three axe disciplines and three sawing disciplines. Springboard, Underhand Chop and Standing Block Chop are the classic axe disciplines; Single Buck (single-man cross-cut saw), Stock Saw (standard chainsaw) and Hot Saw (tuned, customized chainsaw with up to 80 horsepower) are the sawing disciplines. Athletes compete against each other and the clock. For more information visit: www.stihl-timbersports.com

More information is available at www.stihl-timbersports.com.
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SOURCE STIHL TIMBERSPORTS

For further information: Kelly Elliott, Logistics/PR Manager, STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Canada, Phone: [phone] ext 2820, Fax: [phone], E-Mail: [e-mail]; Gerry Rozo, Executive Producer, STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Canada, Phone: [phone], Fax: [phone], E-Mail: [e-mail]; Michelle Lee, Porter Novelli, Phone: [phone], Fax: [phone], E-Mail: [e-mail]