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Halvorson beats Sheer in Women's Timber Endurance final
By Kevin Freking
Special to GOG
|  | | Allyson Clark of New Zealand makes her mark on the Timber Endurance contest. |
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Penny Halvorson said no matter how much of a mismatch it looked on paper, she was not about to take Tina Scheer lightly Saturday in the finals of the women's timber endurance competition.
Halvorson, of Alma Center, Wis., was true to her word as she won a gold medal with a time of 1:48.52 seconds. Scheer, of Hayward, Wis., finished with a time of 2:03.27.
"She might be an eighth seed, but Tina has been in this sport longer than I have. She's absolutely a furious competitor," Halvorson said. "She came in here to prove herself, prove she was worthy of being in these games.
"I knew she was gunning for us, but I'm a three-time women's all-around world champion in '98, '99 and 2000, and I wasn't going down without a fight."
The times were slower than what the women posted the day before when they completed the quarterfinals and semifinals. Halvorson was seeded second, so her ascent to the finals was no surprise.
Meanwhile, Scheer was the last of the endurance participants invited to the Great Outdoor Games. She upset top-seeded Sheree Taylor of New Zealand in the quarterfinals by less than a second.
The women's timber endurance competition involves three events. First, the women use a chainsaw to make two cuts through a block of wood that is 16 inches in diameter. The two lumberjills were rather even after the first sequence, with Halvorson maintaining a slight lead. She said she was focused on getting off to a good start.
"My stocksaw was picture perfect," she said.
|  | | Penny Halvorson proved she was the lumberjack to beat in the Timber Endurance. |
Then, the competitors ran to the underhand chop, which involves using an ax to chop through an 11-inch block of wood that the women are standing on. It was at this point in the match that Scheer struggled near the end of her chopping, while Halvorson's swung the ax with power and precision.
Once the block was severed, the women ran to the single buck, where they used a six-foot saw to cut through 16 inches of pine. There, Halvorson continued to add to her lead as Scheer's saw bunched up several times.
"I knew I had to get a jump on Tina Scheer," Halvorson said. "She's been training for this for two years. If I wanted to win, I had to run the stocksaw better, chop better and obviously singlesaw better than Tina."
Scheer, who trained in New Zealand for this event, was not disappointed with the silver medal.
"I'm quite happy with where I'm at right now. I would have liked to have won, but I did better than about everybody else, especially knowing I was the one who was not accepted until the very end," she said.
Halvorson said she worked hard on her chopping in recent months to get ready for the endurance. Her husband, Rick Halvorson urged her on during the win. He is also a veteran lumberjacker, competing here in the stocksaw competition.
The Halvorsons are tough. She competes despite suffering from asthma. She took several deep breaths from her inhaler after the match. Meanwhile, Rick is so tough he chopped off his big toe during one tournament in 1989. His reaction: He reattached it as best he could and kept on chopping.
In the consolation final, Allyson Clark of New Zealand (1:51.13) defeated Shannon Strong of Bantam, Conn. (1:56.38).
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