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COVER STORY
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Arden Cogar Jr., 37, and his wife,
Kristi, 38, check and recheck die gleaming steel blade of
their crosscut bucksaw. Arden gives it a final buffi then
lie and Kristi grab opposing handles. Facing off across
the white pine log in the searing summer heat, the two
lock eyes and smile.
“Go!” yells an official, signaling the start of the Jack
and Jill bucking contest at die Lum
berjack World Championships in Hay
ward, Wis. (pop. 2,129), which draws
more than 12,(XX) spectators each July.
The Cogars furiously push and pull
the oversized saw through die rough
2()-inch-diameter log. Flying sawdust,
dripping sweat and screaming specta
tors are ignored as the couple frantically
races the dock. A mere 7.74 seconds
later, a slab of wood falls to the ground
and die contest is over. Arden and
Kristi earn fifth place, with a rime one
second behind the winners.
For Arden, an actomey in Charleston,
WVa., competing in lumberjack
contests is in his bkxxl. “My family has been invoked
in lumberjack sports for three generations and hopefully,
there'll be a fourth," he says, nodding at his daughters.
Kiera, 10, and Carmen, 6.
“My father came here to die Lumberjack Worid
Championships and was the first American to win
several competitions,'' Arden adds. “He won the first all
around they' ever had in 1962. He also became the first
American to win the standing block chopping event. I
carried that legacy on (in 2006) when I became the third
American to win that event."
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The Lumberjack World
Championships are
scheduled July 25-27.
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The Cogars, ofWest Hamblin, W.Va.
next. When the logs arrived in the sawmills holding
pond, workers controlled the inventory by chaining legs
end to end, a configuration known as a "boom." If the
booms broke or needed to be opened to release legs,
“boom runners" had to sprint across die bobbing string
of fogs to re-chain or separate them.
When the fog drives were over, lumberjacks often
kept their skills sharp by holding informal contests in
which river drivers, boom runners, sawyers and axmen
competed for bragging rights.
These contests eventually gave rise to more formal
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Arden Cogar Jr. saws in the single buck event with the help of his wife, Kristi, who wedges the wood.
A lumbering history
Lumberjack sports originated in
the 1880 s when the nations timber
industry was booming. With no roads
built to haul felled timber, loggers used
rivers to transport fogs to the nearest
sawmill. “River drivers,” armed with
spiked boots and poles, drove the kgs
downstream, herding die cantankerous
mass through the waters twists and
turns. A river driver's life hinged on
his ability to keep his footing as he
jumped from one slippery leg to the
regional competitions around the country. However, it
wasn't until 1960 that the Lumberjack World Cham
pionships brought the sport worldwide notoriety. The
event, often referred to as the Olympics of the Forest, was
die brainchild of Hayward native Tony Whse, a Harvard
Lfoiversity-educated business visionary' and promoter.
“Tony was our hometown entrepreneur. He really
wanted to put Hayward on the map," say's Diane
McNamer, the event's executive director. "He thought it
would bring tourists and awareness to the Hayward area.
And for the first time, he brought together, under one
umbrella, the best of the best to compere.”
Hayward, which is surrounded by a myriad of lakes
in the Chequamegon National Forest, is an appropriate
home for the championships. The town sprang to life
in the 1880 s when Anthony “Jud” Hayward built a
sawmill to take advanrage of the area’s large supply of
virgin timber. And today, many of the championship
events take place at the Lumberjack Bowl, which once
was a holding pond for fogs driven down the Nameka
gon River.
“There's still fogging going on today in and around
our area,” McNamer says. "Although certainly we dorig»
roll them down die river anymore.” I
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