LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — As a head-to-head match race, the Hot Saw brackets must produce a single winner. So the judges assess time penalties for infractions, rather than issue disqualifications.

The 15-second penalty that the Great Outdoors Games assess was considered a death blow — that is, because the penalty is more than twice as long as a normal race lasts, anyone issued the penalty was thought to have no chance to advance.

As a quarterfinals match between Jerry Scutt and Warrick Hallett demonstrated, that's not necessarily the case. Both Hallett and Scutt failed to cut three full disks. With the wood he had left, Scutt tried to carve a third full disk but could only shave off a couple of partial disks. He was assessed the penalty, and officially finished in 29.36 seconds.

Hallett realized Scutt's rut, restarted his saw and sliced a third full disk from the wood he had left. But he took so long — 40.94 seconds, officially — that he wound up losing to Scutt, even though he produced the three full disks the competition calls for.

"It's a goofy situation," Hallett said. "If I'd have walked away from it, I'd have been fine, not knowing that he had made a mistake. If it was any other competition in America, or the world, I'd have been in."

Six judges recalculated the scores three times, and, though it chaffed them to do so, awarded the match to Scutt, said Rob Scheer, the timber event organizer. Their duty was to abide by the established rules, he said, but they were so flummoxed that they decided to triple the penalty to 45 seconds next year.

"We're not going to muck around on it," Scheer said. "The flaw's there. We're never going to let it happen in the next competition.

"Although," he added, "the rule book stands. We don't change the rule once the game starts."

Growth spurt

In the opening round of this year's GO Games, total attendance reached aproximately 8,100. At the same time in 2001, that figure was about 4,650.

Superstitions

Fishermen are notorious for their superstitions. Clark Wendlandt, for example, insists on loading his rods and reels from his room to his boat one rod at a time.

It seems to work. But superstition isn't exclusive to fishing. Even lumberjacks and jills have a few quirks.

For example, Mandy Erdmann has worn the same sports bra and shorts in competition for the past two years in the Women's Log Rolling event.

Gold medal warmup?

The old axiom in sports that says "Those who can, play. Those who can't, analyze for television,'' doesn't apply in the Retriever Event.

Retriever Analyst and Sport Organizer Justin Tackett of Little Rock, Ark., championed his yellow Labrador retriever, Yella, at the International Grand Hunt last week.

At 16 months, Yella is the youngest dog in HRC (Hunting Retriever Club) history to pass the test.

Resting for the gold

Jerry Day and Super Sue, gold medalists in the 2001 Retriever Event, decided to sit out of the International Grand Hunt this year, to be ready for the 2002 GO Games.

Day is having some heart problems and felt he couldn't compete in both events, but opted for the GO Games because he thought it was more important.

In hunt circles, the Grand has been considered the most prestigious event in the hunting retriever world.

Super Sue is the only retriever in history to have earned the top titles from all three competitive organizations — HRC (Hunting Retriever Club), AKC (American Kennel Club) and NAHRA (North America Hunter Retriever Association).

Day is competing in Lake Placid while wearing a heart monitor on his hip.

Training day

Matt Bush says that he doesn't physically train. Instead, he mentally rehearses cutting the wood. Most timber athletes put in lots of windshield time driving to events around the country and Bush uses that time to visualize every cut in each event. "When you rehearse mentally, you never make a mistake,'' Bush said.

"If I actually train and physically cut the wood, I might make mistakes. That goes into the old mental computer and you can't get it out."

Overheard

"You have to give your ax the same respect you might give a wild horse. You can't fear it, but you have to respect it."
— David Bolstad of New Zealand during the Springboard event

"You don't want to cut against Bolstad when he's pissed off."
— Dave Jewett lamenting Jason Wynyard's upset of David Bolstad in the semifinals of the Springboard, leaving him for Jewett to face in the bronze medal round

"I tried to go conservative. I should have known better. I went easy. Because I went easy, I went too far on the first one, and I put too much wood in the fire. I hit my line perfect."
— Matt Bush to Dennis Daun, describing his cut-out of the Hot Saw qualifying round. Neither advanced to the quarterfinals

"I hit it perfect, I made my two cuts, I put my saw down, I look and I'm going, 'where did that come from?' I didn't even feel it."
— Daun's reply