UNION DALE, Pa. — It's one thing to cut and split wood at home, but to LaVonne Mikloiche and Mary Reeder, it's a competition and one they take seriously. Both ladies from Susquehanna County participate in the Stihl Timbersports series that features the top lumberjack sports athlete in the world, competing in axe and sawing competitions all over the country.
With the growing interest, a women's division was added to the series in 2017.
"It's just in the past recent years that they're figuring out that you know women can do this too, and that's pretty cool, and we can pretty much hold our own with it and have fun doing it," Mikloiche said.
Mikloiche is a second-generation lumberjack and was competing in the sport when she introduced Reeder to it. Reeder says she was instantly hooked.
"Running the chainsaws, the modifieds, the stock saws. It just feels good. Especially when you know you hear the 3,2,1, go. It's all or nothing," Reeder said.
Now the ladies train together, almost daily, in the hopes of chopping down the competition in their qualifier in New York State this weekend, hoping to make it to the next round. The ladies say you need the right equipment to do so.
"You have to have a different axe for a different species of wood and a different crosscut for a different size and species of wood so that all just adds up," Mikloiche said.
But you can't just go up there thinking it's easy. It takes concentration, strength, and precision, but there's no guarantee even that will work in your favor.
"When you add to your axe hits the wood, you know whether you're going to be up there a while or you're not going to be up there a while," Mikloiche said.
The ladies won't know how they've done until the qualifiers are over on June 27. After that, the finals will be held in Little Rock, Arkansas, on July 24.
