Outstanding service to the Sport
Ian had always had an interest in woodchopping & in 1967 began assisting Deans Marsh Gymkhana & Sports Day – making cradles for the “Mugs Chop” & participating. Even after several years of this he did not take up woodchopping until an employee entered him in a carnival in 1983 & dared him to have a go. The rest is history. Not only did he compete in all the local events he went to all the trimming sessions, assisted at carnivals, and took on anything else that needed doing. When helpers became a bit scarce Ian took on the job of getting the logs for all the WVAA carnivals with helpers Wray Trotter, then Rodger & then Frank Harrington – this involved taking their own vehicles to the bush, falling the logs, cutting to length, matching, loading & bringing to the trimmer, unloading, trimming, reloading & delivering to carnivals. At this time Ian decided some labour-saving devices were needed. He bought an older truck & fitted it with a crane – logs were now loaded and unloaded more easily & came home in lengths & a supply could be kept instead of having to get them before each carnival. This meant they needed to be looked after so part of his paddock was given over to a log stack. This has been a 27-year commitment. Ian has also been WVAA handicapper for 25 years. Over this time in our Sport he has introduced, trained & supported several new members of all ages but has always had leaning to juniors & ensuring they learn correctly & safely. Ian has also built 3 Log Trimmers, all still in use today. While no longer competing Ian’s service to his Sport continues.
Ian loved the competition & travelled all over Victoria & into Sth. Australia to follow the carnivals. He competed at Canberra, Adelaide, Melbourne & Sydney Royal Shows & was lucky enough to have a least one win at all of them. Ian was never a champion axeman and really had no expectation that he would be – he was just there to enjoy it. He was a neat & precise cutter & made it to bout the middle mark in S/B and a bit beyond middle in the U/H. On three occasions Ian cut for Victoria at the Sydney Royal. Much to his surprise, Ian also cut on World of Sport on channel 7. Ian’s favourite event was the DHS & he achieved quite a lot of success in this with wins at Canberra, Adelaide, Melbourne & Sydney Royals.
Ian gave up competitive chopping in 2011 after 3 lots of open-heart surgery.
While many people get into the sport via a family connection, this wasn’t the case for Ian but he was very interested, recently to find a family connection to one of the founding members of WVAA- Thomas Jacka, from Cobden was a great, great uncle.
Ian was made a Life Member of his Association in 2003.