Axes flew and logs rolled as the Farthest North Forest Sports competition got underway Saturday.
Undeterred by the chilly weather, more than 20 students, faculty and community members gathered at the UAF Experimental Farm field in the morning to compete in a variety of traditional forest events.
Participants began registering either as individuals or teams shortly before 10 a.m. The event was mainly non-competitive, though individual and team winners were recognized for various events and overall performance.
"We decided a few years ago it'd be a fun thing to do for the community," said David Valentine, associate professor at UAF's School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences. "There's a lot of traditional forest sports, and we thought it'd be neat to have the farthest north competition in the world."
He added: "Of course, we haven't confirmed that we're the farthest north, but no one has ever challenged us, and it's just for fun, anyway."
Pete Buist, the overall winner in 2005 and the crosscut victor this year, said he first got into forest sports in college.
"I didn't do football or anything, I did forest sports," Buist said. "When we were younger, a friend and I competed at the state fair and got beat by a couple older guys. It's fun being the old grandfather now and beating the younger guys."
The first round included the pulp toss, axe throw, log rolling, one-person bow saw, two-person cross-cut, and Jack and Jill crosscut. During the second round, held at Ballaine Lake, participants were warmed by fire building and chilled with log birling.
The most popular of the early events was axe throwing, in which participants threw axes at a wooden target.
"I came because of axe throwing," said UAF undergraduate Mark Winterstein, 23. "It's fun. I like all the events, and it's fun getting to do something different with my day, but my favorite is axe throwing."
Participants also enjoyed the other events, with log rolling and crosscut and pulp toss filling up right at the start of the morning's competition.
"Most people think cross-cut is a strong arm competition, and in fact it's a finesse competition," Buist said. "That's why my guy and I do so well at it,"
Two-person crosscut was a timed event, challenging two people to cut a slice of a log as quickly as possible.
The pulp toss was an event similar to horseshoes, with teams of four people tossing a log back and forth between stakes. One point was earned for getting the log between the stakes. The goal was to get 16 such points as quickly as possible.
During registration and throughout the first portion of the events, booths offered shirts. Competitors could nab hot beverages to either drink or warm their hands.
At Ballaine Lake, participants were warmed up by the fire-building competition, which gave two people five matches and a block of wood to boil a can of water. The winning time was 10:24, with second and third place coming in less than a minute behind them.
"The fire-building, I just enjoy it," said Micah Miller, 21, UAF student and member of the Wildlife Society's team. "It's really hectic and you get to work with another person. It's an all-around entertaining event."
birling was the day's coldest event, challenging two people to stay on the log longer than their competitor. Participants, including Miller, said it was a fun event even though it made the day colder.
"I did the pulp toss, axe-throwing, double and single crosscuts, birling, and fire building- the only one I didn't do was log rolling," Miller said. "It was a really fun day."
