In Navarre and Basque Country there aizkora It is an indigenous sport which finds its roots in the tradition of a trade, working with wood from our mountains. In other countries, their priority is spectacle. Canada is the second world power at Timbersportsa sport which consists of chainsaw cutting, chopsticks and ax in relay by teams as quickly as possible. It's the perfect combination of power, speed, technique and precision on a log of wood. His national team has been in Ochagavía since last Saturday, where they are preparing for the world championship which will begin next Friday in Lillerhammer, Norway. Three Navarrese will also participate in this championship. Daniel, Iker Vicente and Rubén Saralegi make up the core of the Spanish squad for the World Cup. Canadians and Spaniards are preparing side by side to compete against 21 other countries.
There The Vicente family owns a warehouse in Ochagavía. There, Iker and his father are getting ready. Since Saturday, on one of its walls, where there are posters of the championship and souvenirs, the white and red flag of Canada with the maple leaf in the center has also been hanging. Gerry Rozo – Canadian by birth and of Latin parents – is a strong guy and the alma mater of Timbersports Canada. He does not part with a portfolio in which the daily lives of his six boys are programmed down to the minute. What is indicated in the plan is respected within the framework of military discipline. Schedules, meals, training and breaks. Everything is measured to the nearest millimeter, according to the criteria of Thomas Lam, the expedition's physical trainer. Five years ago, Rozo took over as head of the team, and during that time he promoted it from 10th to second place in the world.
“Before the World Cup, we come to Europe every year for a week of concentration to acclimatize to the schedules. We know Iker and his family from the Timbersport World Championships. We have a very good relationship, we saw the possibility of coming here to prepare,” explains Rozo. “We feel at home and the experience has been very good.”
Aizkolaris no, top athletes
Canada moved Ochagavía to six athletes (At Timbersports they are considered as such). Stirling Hart – one of the best cutters in the world – cuts horizontal logs; Mitch Hewitt (chainsaw), Marcel Dupuis (cutting saw), Nathan Cumberland (vertical cutting), Nic Rusell (chainsaw) and Thomas Henderson (cutting saw). Three of them were world champions. They all master all the cutting methods. They chip any log with any tool. Your daily schedule is demanding. The one who dictates the technological center that has made Canada the second world power. They get up at 7:30 a.m., they cut the morning for an hour to an hour and a half. They eat around 12:30 p.m. They rest, cut the afternoon again, have dinner and rest at nine in the evening. The life of an elite athlete, plus more in the week leading up to the World Cup.
In the center of the warehouse, Iker Vicente has prepared a vertical trunk of poplar (the wood used in the Timbersports World Cup, in aizkora it is beech). His father, Daniel; his cousin Rubén and the two Sorias who complete the selection – Abel de Vicente (chainsaw) and David Jimeno – attentively follow the explanations in English of a square redhead. He is Stirling Hart, a 28-year-old from Maple Ridge, Vancouver. He is the horizontal cutter, and one of the best ax specialists in the world. At the age of four he received his first axe; He possesses enormous power which he applies with the precision of a surgeon.
“For several months I compete in North America, other months in Australia. This job is very hard physically and psychologically,” explains Hart. “When you are professional you have to travel a lot, you train physically, technically and mentally, you have to be very clear in your head about how you have to do things. And you are in competition.
Stirling Hart explains how best to attack a vertical log. And contrary to what we think, the force is not so much exerted by the arms – that too – but by the waist and the legs, which are what drive and direct all the force of the body towards the trunk. And then there's axe-wielding. The Canadians' precision is deadly. There is no bad move.
“During these three days, we learned a lot by living with them. They are vice-world champions, they are very good technically and they organize competitions of this type throughout the year. They are super trained and quickly see your mistakes,” explains Iker Vicente, Euskadi vice-champion. “You can see that technically they make things very easy, they always know where to put the ax, and they place it well with great strength and precision. It's incredible”.
A 100m runner and a marathon runner
The way of seeing the ax and the cut is diametrically opposed at Timbersports and at aizkora. It is, in making a comparison, like comparing a 100 meter race with a marathon. Timbersports World Cup tests last no more than a minute. Each member of the team must cut their poplar trunk as quickly as possible, in turn. Start the chainsaw (60 inch log), move to horizontal cut (45 inch), then to log (60 inch) and finally to vertical cut (45 inch). The Canadians, world vice-champions behind the all-powerful Australians, completed the operation in just 58-56 seconds. The Spanish team carried out two tests yesterday in Ochagavía. In one they invested 1:15, in the second they lowered it to 1:05, only two seconds less than the Canadians.
This weekend, Gerry Rozo, the leader of the Canadian expedition, went with his boys to watch the final of the second category aizkolaris championship, won by Rubén Saralegi. “Here, the competitions take place like a normal event. At Timbersports, they would be on a raised stage, with lights, smoke, cheerleaders… it's a very different concept. It’s a spectacle,” explains the manager of the Canadian team, who organizes the competitions, controls the athletes and obtains sponsors.
The form and substance. Canadians were amazed at the number of logs cut and the rigor of the tests. 100 meter sprinters (the 15 to 20 seconds of maximum effort to cut through your trunk) versus marathon runners (the 35 to 45 minutes of agony of an ax test here). In fact, during Sunday's training, they were “challenged” to cut down three beech trunks. And Iker Vicente was faster than the five Canadians, who took turns in the shortcuts.
“We want to be world champions and we are half a second behind the Australians. This year we did the work to convince ourselves that we can beat them,” says Rozo. “Australians generally cut harder wood, which requires you to be very strong and very precise in cutting.”
What if Iker was Canadian?
The coexistence of these three days between the members of the Canadian team and the Spaniards in Ochagavía had a double aspect. The preparation for the World Cup, but also the promotion of Timbersports in Spain, very precarious in terms of media and impact. Among the 23 teams that will participate in the World Cup, Spain aspires to be the best on the European continent. Czechoslovakia and the Alemanni are the enemies to beat. To achieve this, the role of Iker Vicente, the most projected aizkolari today, is essential.
What future would Iker Vicente have at Timbersports? “Iker is a phenomenon. He is going to be the most important Spaniard in the team in the years to come,” explains Rozo. “I saw him on the rookie team two years ago, and he looked like a very high level athlete… his passport would have to be changed so he could compete with us.”
Hart saw Iker Vicente take part in the last Youth World Cup in Australia. He believes that Ochagavía aizkolari has a huge future. “Iker has his best teacher in his father Daniel, he teaches him a lot,” explained yesterday the cutter with the scar on his face, the result of an ax blow. “Iker is very, very young, he is very fast, he has a lot of strength and technically he is doing very well. In a few years he will be the best in Spain, if he came with us and had a Canadian girl he would rival us… just kidding.”
Until Friday, everyone will be friends, in Norway it will be something else.
TODAY EXHIBITION IN BALUARTE AT 5:30 P.M.
The Canadian expedition plans to stay in Navarre until today. The pre-World Cup stage will end with an exhibition at 5:30 p.m. in the Plaza del Baluarte, where the Spanish team will also be present. Both are already rushing through their final training sessions before a World Cup that takes place in two days and according to the knockout formula. Spain will travel to Norwegian lands with Daniel and Iker Vicente, Rubén Saralegi and Abel de Vicente. David Jimeno as replacement.
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