Sport
21 March, 2024
Youles schools competition in record time
Kilcoy-based woodchopper Gerald Youles added to his lengthy list of top-placings, as he took out the recent Amuri New Zealand 350mm Underhand Championship and also set a record time.
Gerald was among about 80 competitors from around Australia and New Zealand at the Amuri event, while the championship featured the top 24 competitors.
It was the first time Gerald had competed in the prestigious New Zealand event.
He not only won his heat but finished chopping his block in a mere 18.3 seconds in the final.
This eclipsed the previous record of 19.5 seconds, set in 1989.
Also in New Zealand, Gerald won the Bill Curtain Memorial Underhand Championship late last year, for the fifth successive time.
Gerald said his latest triumph was “certainly up there” in terms of how highly he ranked it among his other wins.
“It’s one of the biggest woodchopping events in New Zealand,” he said of the Amuri event.
“I’d been wanting to go for a few years, so I chose to forgo Newcastle, where I’d won last year.”
Gerald said the weather in New Zealand was lovely, and that he “couldn’t have asked for anything nicer”.
Moreover, Gerald said the occasion was a vital part of his preparation for the upcoming Sydney Royal Easter Show, dubbed the ‘Wimbledon of woodchopping’.
Another key part of the preparation, from Gerald’s perspective, was that he beat long-time friend and rival Jack Jordan at the Amuri event, after the Kiwi-based Jack had previously been the youngest to win a world title in Sydney.
“I’ve been training pretty hard for it for the past few months,” Gerald said of the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
Gerald said he was keen to have another crack at the ‘Wimbledon of woodchopping’, as the number one ranking had always eluded him in this.
“I’ve come third, fifth, seventh and eighth,” he said.
“Something has plagued me each time.
“You’ve just got to keep showing up, no matter what.” Gerald said any victory was a case of “the stars aligning”.
“There’s always an element of luck,” he said.
“You’ve got to draw a good block, and you’ve got to adapt.”
