The chainsaws roar, the best Hungarian loggers compare their skills

A truly special sporting event is coming to the Mátra Mountains again on the second weekend of July: this year, Parád will once again host the STIHL Timbersports Martin Komárek Memorial Competition, where the best Hungarian sports logging competitors will compete in strength, skill and knowledge. Although STIHL Timbersports has a 40-year history, relatively few people in Hungary are familiar with it – most people probably encountered the sport when they accidentally came across a broadcast on a sports channel.

Now is the opportunity to get to know this sport better, as the free-to-attend competition is a perfect program not only for extreme sports enthusiasts, but also for families and those looking for active recreation. The best Hungarian athletes in the sport compete in several events in truly challenging conditions. They cut heavy logs, up to two meters high, balancing on a narrow platform, cutting through huge tree trunks with hand and chainsaws, but they also use a tuned, 60-70 horsepower chainsaw.

The grand field will be 12 people, almost all of the best Hungarian sports tree cutters will take the stage. The clear favorite of the competition is the two-time champion Bence Strúbel: the 22-year-old athlete has won all of his adult competitions on home soil so far. At the age of 59, seven-time Hungarian champion and seventh-place finisher in the world championship, István Juhász, is once again taking up a chainsaw and axe, but 17-year-old young competitor Ádám Urbán also wants to prove himself.

When STIHL Timbersports first started in 1985, the first events were held in a field in Wisconsin, and the broadcast was done with a camera mounted on a forklift. Initially, prizes were awarded at individual competitions held at various locations in the USA, but over the decades it has developed into a prestigious series of competitions, where European athletes have also participated since 2005.

The parade competition is not only the prelude to the national championship, but also a respectful farewell to one of the icons of international sports logging, Martin Komárek, who died in a tragic workplace accident in 2021, and whose name the competition bears for the fourth time. Four-time European champion Komárek was an iconic figure in the international STIHL Timbersports field, winning numerous competitions as a globally recognized sports lumberjack. He maintained a close relationship with the Hungarian team, preparing the competitors in training camps on several occasions.