Kody Steers to take part in Stihl Timbersports World Championships

Kody Steers of Sheffield will represent Australia at the Stihl Timbersports World Championships in Budapest, Hungary on June 6 and is fighting fit following a successful national woodchopping campaign in recent months.

The 30-year-old has been dominating the sport in Tasmania for years and once again earned national recognition at the Sydney Easter show, taking out the World Title event in the 375mm underhand chop for the third time in the past 10 years.

He backed up a few days later with another World Title in the same size standing block event, dead heating with NSW’s David Reumer.

Timed to 100ths of a second and taking around a minute to cut, a dead heat has never before occurred in the event.

He also joined an elite list of only 10 people in the 80-year history of the show, including Tasmanian legend David Foster, to take out the double, as well as making the finals in the double handed sawing and single handed sawing.

“I’d really never thought I could win the double – I was only ever aiming to get my name on the board in one of them,” Steers said.

After two nights back home in his own bed Steers was off to Melbourne, St Kilda, for the Stihl Timbersports nationals and he said that after 12 days of chopping over Easter he’d never felt fitter or stronger.

The action-packed iron-man version of a traditional woodchop is all about endurance, covering four disciplines in the one race against an opponent.

Competitors cut a horizontal log with a stock chainsaw, run to cut another log underhand with an axe, go back to the first log to saw through with a single buck cross saw and then move on to a standing block chop.

Qualifying in the top four earned Steers a rest while the next eight cut off again but a stiff draw against three times champion Mitch Argent from Queensland in the first round of the finals was cause for concern.

“That could have gone either way,” Steers said.

“But I got over the top of him and then had to front up against Brad Delosa from New South Wales in the final and he’s won the World Trophy several times.

“He’d had to do the extra run so that worked to my advantage.”

The pair went into the final standing block blow-for-blow, Steers crept ahead in the single buck and then Delosa pulled the time back as they went into the final standing block where Steers bought it home.

Watch the action-packed final here: https://tinyurl.com/36vnncjd

“I had to put it all on the line and it was a real relief to win, but I have to admit cutting against Mitch first up was as hard a race as any,” he said.

It’s all familiar territory for Steers who started woodchopping at age seven in the junior chops and has been competing nationally and internationally for the past 15 years.

Combining the sport with a day job of driving excavators, doing clearing work on farms and running a timber means on most weeks he’s swinging an axe or wielding a chainsaw.

In recent years he’s been to Europe twice with the Australian team but is looking forward to contesting the world trophy as an individual.

As a third generation axeman he’s hoping that his own children will following in his footsteps one day.

“I hope that they will get as much enjoyment out of the sport as I do,” he said.