Selection Axe Swung On Timbersports Team Opens Way For Young Guns

A changing of the guard in the four-man Stihl Timbersports Team representing New Zealand at the World Championships in Milan, Italy this weekend has seen three veterans replaced by three ‘rookies’.

“No one’s giving us a chance as a result of this lack of experience,” says team manager Anthony Mildren. “But then again no one gave the Baby All Blacks a chance in 1986 or Martin Crowe’s Young Guns in the Cricket World Cup in ’92! Kiwis fly best when they’re under the radar don’t they,” smiles Mildren.

The three long-serving team members who didn’t ‘make the cut’ for this year’s selection were Rotorua’s Kyle Lemon (51 years old), Southland’s Bobby Dowling (38 years old) and Taranaki’s Shane Jordan (38 years old).

They’ve been replaced by Tokoroa’s Cleveland Cherry (26 yrs), Masterton’s Quintin Fawcett (30 years) and Otorohanga’s Chris Lord (30 years) who will all join top Kiwi Timbersport axeman Jack Jordan (29 years) in the four man New Zealand Team.

It’s Fawcett and Cherry’s first time making the Men’s senior team, while Lord first made the team two years ago.

“The average age difference between those two teams goes from 40-years to 28-years of age. That’s a lot of experience to lose especially when you consider most Timbersport athletes don’t reach their prime until their forties,” says Mildren.

But Mildren says what this team lacks in experience they more than make up for in effort.

“I can tell you, no stone has been left unturned in our lead-up training camps and I’ve never seen more personal behind-the-scenes preparation and effort than what these four have produced this year. They’re our Young Guns.. with axes!”

Both Lord and Cherry previously represented New Zealand in the World Championships as Rookie’s (Under 25 years old) with Lord winning that title in 2019 and Cherry placing third last year.

In a side plot to the World Championship event, Jack Jordan will be looking to go one better than the second place he achieved in the individual competition last year held in Toulouse, France. It’s an award that’s eluded the current triple World Trophy title holder.

The STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® World Trophy is described as the 20/20 cricket of international wood chopping - a quick fire, knockout-stages event with four disciplines back to back suited to competitors with superior fitness and endurance. This weekend’s STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® World Championship is the more traditional, long-form format of the sport across six different wood-chopping and sawing disciplines.

If he can win against the 12-strong international field, Jordan will join the sport’s illustrious company of Jason Wynyard and David Bolstad as the only other Kiwi to ever win the coveted individual title.

Meanwhile the New Zealand team – that finished just out of the medals in 4th place last year in a 10-strong field – last won the World Championship teams title in 2017.

NZ Stihl Timbersports World Championship Team 2025:

• Jack Jordan Taumarunui
• Cleveland Cherry Tokoroa
• Quintin Fawcett Masterton
• Chris Lord Otorohanga

Stihl Timbersports World Championship in Milan this weekend:

• NZ Team Team World Championship event Saturday 25 October (NZ Time)
• Jack Jordan Individual World Championship event Sunday 26 October (NZ Time)

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