Dave Ogilvie
Since 1989, Kelvin Caul has been a dominant force at the annual loggers’ competition held in conjunction with the Rainy River Valley Agricultural Society’s fall fair in Emo.
Only once during that period has the title of champion gone to anyone else except Caul.
At this year’s competition, organized once again by the Rainy River District Logging & Safety Committee, the question on everyone’s mind, including Caul’s, was: would this be the year that the title would go to a logger from the “next generation”?
With only six loggers participating in this year’s event, the competition was extremely tight.
On hand to vie for the crown was Caul and his son Jason, Duane Loveday and his son, rookie logger Jamie Loveday, and the partnership of Randy Vandenberg and Darrell Dessere.
This year’s competition consisted of the usual nine events: the chainsaw speed buck, the two-man crosscut, pole felling, chair carve, bucksaw, axe throw, pulpwood toss, axe chop, the tea boil, and the crowd-pleasing “Jack and Jill” event.
Although this event did not count towards the overall score, several women came down out of the grandstands to compete with their favourite logger.
The weather definitely co-operated this year and a large crowd turned out to see the six skilled loggers compete for the prestigious title of “Champion Logger.”
Those on hand for Friday morning’s competition were anticipating a great show—and they certainly weren’t disappointed. During the first five events, the points were extremely close and it looked like Caul’s title was up for grabs.
Duane Loveday was in the lead for quite a while ,with Jason Caul a close second.
It wasn’t until the axe throw and the pulpwood toss that Kelvin Caul finally established a lead. Although he hasn’t been working in the bush for a while, he demonstrated that he still has the necessary skills to get the job done.
It was the chair carve event, however, that firmly established Caul as this year’s champion.
The chair carve is not a speed event. Instead, the loggers are judged on their creativity and the function of the chair they carve out of a single log with a chainsaw.
Kelvin Caul carved a cute chair that obviously caught the attention of the judges.
The Rainy River District Logging & Safety Committee would like to thank the volunteers from the logging community who helped run this year’s competition, the loggers for taking the time to participate in this year’s event, and the businesses and organizations from across the district for donating such fantastic prizes.
Victory in this year’s competition was by no means easy for the defending champ, who finished just one point ahead of his son, Jason.
Who knows? Maybe next year will be event where the title is passed on to the younger generation.
The senior Caul also was declared as this year’s “Safe Logger,” with Jamie Loveday being named “Rookie of the Year.”
