04 • 09 • 2012
Slightly short of medals
The 30th World Logging Championship was held in the Raubichi Olympic Centre (Minsk Oblast, Belarus) on August 23-27. 29 national teams participated in the prestigious championship, bringing together the world’s 111 best loggers.
Team Latvia finished tenth in the overall standings and only two minor mistakes in tree felling did not allow it to compete for medals. In the individual standings, our best loggers ranked 11th (Gatis Brencis, 1,588 pts), 15th (Edmunds Krišāns, 1,579 pts) and 44th (Anatolijs Seļivanovs, 1,475 pts). Russian competitors claimed first place in the individual standings, Finnish – second, Swiss – third. Latvia’s best result in tree felling was achieved by E. Krišāns (12th place).
In other events, Latvia proved its place among the world’s strongest. Latvian loggers ranked second after Belarus in precision bucking and limbing. In the individual standings, G. Brencis finished precision bucking eighth, A. Saļivanovs – 10th, E. Krišāns – 18th. LVM Eastern Vidzeme Logging District master Mārtiņš Ķepītis was fourth among U24 juniors in precision bucking. G. Brencis was fourth in limbing, only four hundredths of a second away from bronze, A. Saļivanovs - tenth, E. Krišāns – 26th.
The performance of our loggers once again indicates that they are among the world’s leading ones - top 10, and have a good chance of winning medals in the next championship in Switzerland in 2014.
The World Logging Championships are organized biennially by the International Association Logging Championships (IALC). In Croatia in 2010, Latvia finished in a respectable fifth place.
The world’s top 10 logger teams in 2012:
1. Finland (4,808 pts)
2. Russia (4,785 pts)
3. Belarus (4,780 pts)
4. Italy (4,759 pts)
5. Hungary (4,690 pts)
6. Netherlands (4,683 pts)
7. Germany (4,663 pts)
8. Estonia (4,646 pts)
9. Austria (4,643 pts)
10. Latvia (4,642 pts)
Championship results on WLC2012 website:
http://www.wlc-belarus2012.com/en/node/323
Association “Meža sports” thanks all supporters of the Latvian logging team.
Ģirts Abizārs
Association “Meža sports”
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