Forester wins German forestry work championships
The joy of his victory is written all over Jan Petzold's face. At the 14th German Forestry Work Championships in Hanover, he leaves all his competitors behind in the "combination cutting" discipline. He also beats the 2018 world champion in this discipline.
Jan Petzold, who has been working as a forester in the municipal forest of the city of Chemnitz since 1990, is also the best Saxon in the overall standings at this year's German Championships.
About the competition:
Five disciplines, which are based on daily work in the forest, must be completed in a forestry work championship. These include target felling, chain change, combination cutting, precision cutting and delimbing.
- Target felling
A target stick is driven 15 metres from the tree to be felled. The competitor must fell the tree as accurately as possible in a maximum of 5 minutes to hit the target stick. Safety and quality criteria are also assessed.
Chain change
Each competitor must dismantle the saw bar on their chainsaw as quickly as possible, turn it round and change the chain.
Combination cut
The competitors cut a 3 to 8 cm thick slice from each of two jacked-up logs. The first half is cut from below, the second from above. The cuts must be made perpendicular to the log axis and meet in the centre of the log.
Precision cut
A slice must be cut from each of two logs lying on a board without damaging the board.
Limbing a log
Approximately 30 branches must be removed from a trunk in the shortest possible time. Do not damage the trunk or leave any stumps on the trunk.
Skill with the chainsaw is at the centre of the competition. Safety, accuracy and speed in the execution of the disciplines are assessed. At the forestry work championships, tenths of a millimetre often make the difference between victory and defeat.