A TENBURY sportsman will be representing the country at an international competition.
Robert Chatley is set to head to the Stihl Timbersports World Championship in Stuttgart, Germany as part of Team GB next month.
Mr Chatley is a well-known figure in the world of timbersports, which consists of several wood-chopping disciplines where participants use saws and axes, and has plenty of merits to his name including being the national Pro Timbersports champion of 2014.
Mr Chatley will be heading to Hay-on-Wye on the weekend of October 28 for a final training camp before travelling to the Porsche Arena in Germany to compete in the event.
The five other members of Team GB consist of captain Glen Penlington of Powys, who is hoping that his team can improve on their seventh-place finish last year and finish as the best in Europe at the tournament, Tom Redmond, Graham Turner, Jack Morris and George Spencer from nearby Hereford.
The world championship will see the very best in elite logger sports, comprising 120 athletes from over 20 nations, compete across two days of competition.
The tournament will kick off on Friday, November 3, with national teams going up against each other in a knockout system, with four athletes from each nation exercising the disciplines of Stock Saw, Underhand Chop, Single Buck and Standing Block Chop in a relay format.
Mr Chatley’s biggest competitors will likely be Team Australia, who are currently the favourites to win having claimed their seventh title at the 2022 Team World Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden, completing an historic three-peat in the process. Team New Zealand and 2022 runners-up team USA are also expected to be tough acts to beat.
This will then be followed by the individual world championship on November 4, where the world’s top twelve athletes compete against each other in a three-round elimination format. The athlete achieving the highest points across the rounds will be crowned the 2023 Individual World Champion.
The best individual athletes will qualify for the Individual World Championship throughout the 2024 season, with the national champions of the USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia to take on the eight best national champions from Europe.
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