Two new Timbersports champions were crowned in Wollongong on Saturday.
Jamie Head was the biggest winner after he upset a highly talented field to win the Australian Pro Championships of the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® series.
The Queensland competitor did exceptionally well to finish first, just in front of last year's champion Brad De Losa, with Victorian Laurence O'Toole rounding out the top three.
Head was ecstatic to win his first ever overall national title.
"This means the world to me. I've been working hard for this for a long time and to finally get the individual title, it means the world," he said.
"This is my first overall win in the Australian Pro Championship. I have won rounds before but never the overall, I'm ecstatic."
Head said his win at the Breakwater Lighthouse in Wollongong was built on consistency.
"I didn't really do that great in the first few events but I just hung in there and then the last three events are always my best and they were again my best today," he said.
"Once I got to the single I ended up in third and then winning the springboard was major for me as it put me on top and then gave me the advantage to know what time I needed to cut in the hot saw and I was able to just scrape by.
"It was a great feeling."
Head who has been competing wood chopping events for almost 30 years and took up competing in Timbersports in 2015, is now off to Germany to compete in the world titles.
"I'm off to the world championships in Stuttgart in November. I've been there a couple of times so I know what I'm in for there. I'm really looking forward to getting back there again."
It was also a great day for rising Timbersports athlete Matt Coffey, who is well on his way to turning pro after being crowned Australian Rookie Champion.
It was a fine victory for the 20-year-old from Victoria who only started competing in major events in 2019.
With COVID ruining the 2020 and 2021 seasons, Coffey finished fourth in the 2022 Australian Rookie Championships of the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® series.
Third time proved a charm for Coffey, who beat allcomers in Wollongong.
He will now represent the Australian team in the Rookie World Championships next year.
'It's obviously a great result for me. This was my first experience competing on a dock, it was a good scenery, I liked it," Coffey said.
'The crowd were great also. I could hear one of my sponsors from back home in the crowd, I could hear him just before the single buck. I could also hear my mother in the tree, she was pretty loud. I also had my old man and my brother in the crowd as well."
Now considered an upcoming athlete in the Australian wood chopping scene, Coffey said his aim was to continue working hard to win even more titles.
"This was my next accomplishment I wanted to tick off my list. My next one from here would be worlds," he said.
"I'm going to train hard and train for gold there. From there it's the Sydney Show, world title."
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
