The over-capacity crowd at the Fryeburg Fair got quite a treat.
By Jim Smedley
Staff Writer

FRYEBURG – The grandstands were packed Monday and people stood five deep at the rail to view the Woodsmen’s Field Day competition at Fryeburg Fair.

“The grandstand holds about 2,500 and there are nearly that many standing,” said Roy Andrews, general superintendent of the fair.

The crowd was not disappointed.

Mike Sullivan of Colebrook, Conn., eventual overall winner, set a fair record in the springboard competition before noon and was well on his way to winning other events.

The springboard competition is a timed event requiring the participant to cut a notch in a tree to place the board and then while standing on that board cut another notch. After moving the board up to the second notch the participant has to cut through the top of the tree.

Fans also were delighted to see 78-year-old famous woodsman David Geer set a record in the master’s division with five bull’s-eyes in the ax throwing competition. The division is for competitors age 55 and over.

The 43-year-old Sullivan has come a long way since he almost entered his first sawing competition at age 14.

He said he and a friend brought saws to a woodsman’s day event in Connecticut, watched the other competitors saw and then packed the saws up and went home.

Now the powerfully built Sullivan is one of the best woodsmen in the world and has titles from 24 world championships events to prove it.

He said he makes a living from the woodsman’s competition from May to October every year. After that he concentrates on representing three companies involved with archery and deer hunting, his other passion.

World Championship competitions are held in Oregon, Wisconsin, Sydney, Australia, San Sebastian, Spain, and most recently in Webster Springs, W.Va.

The competition in Fryeburg is in its 36th year. He said he has been the overall winner at Fryeburg “10-plus times.”

Sullivan noted that fellow woodsman Geer has 44 event wins at world championships, a mark he said he’s not likely to catch.

“A lot has changed since Dave began competing,” Sullivan said. “There’s more people and more training than there used to be.”

Sullivan said he works out on the Nautilus and lifts weight. He also practices his trade, working on chopping and ax throwing.

“I don’t practice to increase my strength,” he said. “I work on my skills and technique.”

He also said it is important to have the top gear available to compete.

Another woodsman who was top in his division was 47-year-old Claude Bolduc, who grew up in Lewiston and now lives in Bowdoin.

Bolduc is deaf and is at an automatic disadvantage in competing in some of the time events because he has to wait for a signal from his interpreter, Patti Feda, to begin.

Bolduc competed in four events on Monday: bucksaw cutting, tree felling, the ax throw and the chain saw cutting.

Bolduc said he has to focus his attention on the interpreter waiting for the go signal, instead of focusing on the event. So, he signed that in essence he loses one-half second to one second on every event since he has to change his focus from the interpreted to the task at hand.

“They do that at other fairs,” he signed. “I’ve been trying to talk to them at Fryeburg and convince them to change the laws.”

Toby Hammond, co-chairman of the woodsmen event with his father, Wilbur F. Hammond, said the event rules maintained that time does not start until an ax or saw hits the wood.

But, it was changed.

“At each station there are two timers and one judge,” Hammond said. “The timers close their eyes and begin timing on the word ‘go.’ The judge watches so they don’t start early.”

Hammond said since many of the competitions start at the same time using different judges, officials thought that the judges’ opinion of when the ax or saw hit the wood might not be consistent.

He said that starting on the word “go” was the most consistent way to time events.

Bolduc takes it all in stride. He signed that he has competed since 1994 and has been to Texas, Tennessee, Oregon, Wisconsin, Connecticut and Pennsylvania for woodsman’s events.

He said he particularly enjoys Fryeburg.

“I come here every year to listen and learn from the other woodsmen,” he signed. “I have such a good time here. I meet such good people. I really enjoy coming here.”

jsmedley@sunjournal.com

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