It all came down to the underhand chop.
Through three wood-cutting events at the Stihl Timbersports U.S. Championship in Milwaukee in late July, Spokane native Erin LaVoie was tied for first place with Martha King of Pennsylvania.
The fourth and final event of the day — in which competitors stand on logs and hack away until they split — would break the tie and decide which of the two preeminent female wood-choppers would add another title to their mantle.
Competitors go two at a time in the underhand chop, and pre-set brackets just happened to put King and LaVoie together for a winner-take-all showdown.
And, on the first swing, LaVoie knew she had it.
"When I opened it up with the first hit and my ax really matched the wood well," LaVoie said, "I knew it was game on. It was going to be good."
LaVoie split the log beneath her feet in 23.61 seconds, a time that not only beat King and the rest of the field but crushed the previous women's world record.
It secured a one-point victory in the U.S. championship, the third of LaVoie's career, and earned her a trip later this month to the third annual Stihl International Women's Cup — an event she won last year.
LaVoie followed that performance up by winning the Belle of the Woods title at the Morton Loggers Jubilee on Sunday, Aug. 11. The honor is awarded to the top overall female competitor at the jubilee’s logging competition. It was the second consecutive Belle of the Woods win for LaVoie.
LaVoie, a 2000 graduate of Ferris High School, has been one of the top women in timbersports for years, with plenty of titles to prove it. She picked up the sport while studying forestry at Spokane Community College and began entering competitions not long after that.
The scene was different then. Most of the time, she was entering male-dominated events, and she remembers only one other female competitor from those days.
"Early on, I had to compete with guys, so it wasn't easy to win at all," LaVoie said.
That's changed. Now, there are plenty of women-only events, and more female competitors.
The growth is good, LaVoie said.
"It creates more opportunities," she said.
LaVoie could take part in a competition every weekend, but she said she's become more choosy about which events she attends. She likes to hunt, fish and camp, and she has a business to run — Predation Crossfit, where she also has a chopping deck to keep her skills sharp and introduce others to the sport.
Still, she makes time to bring home trophies. The weekend after winning the Stihl U.S. championship, she won the all-around women's title at the Lumberjack World Championships in Hayward, Wisconsin.
Next up is Stihl's International Women's Cup, which will be held on Aug. 25 in Klingenthal, Germany, and she'll represent Team USA in a competition against women who secured the top spot in their home countries.
"We'll all be going head-to-head for greatest in the world," LaVoie said.
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