Showing strength and skill: Southeastern Wisconsinites head north for Lumberjack World Championships

 

WISCONSIN (CBS 58) -- Athletes of all ages are ready to sport their flannel shirts for a very unique competition in northwestern Wisconsin.

The 63rd Lumberjack World Championships run Thursday, July 20 through Saturday, July 22 in Hayward, Wisconsin.

Of course, there will be plenty of wood chopping, but the competition is more intense than you might think, and this year will have plenty of local representation.

Three professional athletes from southeastern Wisconsin will be showing off their strength and skill.

Cameron Pilgreen, of Watertown, Tess Stumvoll, of Oconomowoc, and Torrin Hallett, of Oconomowoc, all started log rolling as little kids at the Oconomowoc YMCA.

"Now, like, 11 years later, here I am, still log rolling," Stumvoll said.

Stumvoll created the log rolling team at Marquette University, and now works as a coach. This will be her first year competing as a professional athlete in the log rolling world championship.

"The environment is super cool. You're around all these crazy athletes doing a sport that not a lot of people even know about," Stumvoll said.

One of six event categories in the Lumberjack World Championship, log rolling takes years of practice.

"Your job is to stay on the log while it's spinning in the water and get the other person off. So, you use your feet to move it forwards and backwards," Hallett explained.

"A lot of it is definitely like, leg strength, but also it's a huge endurance sport. Your core is a big factor," Stumvoll said.

Other events include wood chopping and sawing, axe throwing, climbing, and boom running - a race on linked, floating logs.

"Last year I ended up winning the world title in the boom run, so I'm hoping to defend that title this year," Pilgreen said.

Pilgreen now lives in Alaska, where he performs in lumberjack shows.

"It's become a full-time job, and it's a career now," Pilgreen said.

The three-day competition brings professional and amateur athletes from around the world to northern Wisconsin.

"It's just one great big lumberjack family, that we all get together to support each other and cheer each other on," Hallett said.

"It's cool to be able to go up there and have those Oconomowoc names on the roster," Stumvoll said.

Quarterfinals begin Thursday. Click here for more information on the Lumberjack World Championship.