Coylton Lumberjill: Catt Eccles in Iron Man record attempt

Scotland’s only lumberjill, Catt Eccles from Coylton, will be displaying her wood-chopping skills as part of a team which aims to set a spectacular new Welsh record for the lumberjack Iron Man.

Catt is one of the UK’s few lumberjills – female lumberjacks - and a member of the North Wales-based Clwyd Axemen who will be attempting the record at the Welsh Game Fair, near Bangor, this weekend, September 9 and 10.

The mum of two, a tree surgeon for over 20 years, is just back from a successful demonstration of the tree-fellers arts in Guernsey with the Axemen and in June came fourth in the first British Women’s Timbersports Championship finals.

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She is looking forward to seeing the record-attempt and said: “I met the Clwyd Axemen when I saw them in action at the Scottish Game Fair at Scone and Osian Williams asked me if I fancied doing a demo with them and it’s carried on from there.

“I was brought up on a farm and as a little girl, I would be out chopping kindling for the fire and that’s something I’ve always done. I always lived in a house with a coal fire so it was a chore that has become a hobby.

Catt is one of the UK’s few lumberjills (Image: Catt is one of the UK’s few lumberjills)

“I always loved being out in nature in the trees and woods and so after school I studied conservation and tree management and went on from there to become a tree surgeon.

“It’s a very skilled job with all the aspects of forestry including cutting and climbing and even though I sometimes wonder why I’m still doing this at 42 it’s just what I love.

“You can take the farmer out of the farm but you never take the farm out of the farmer – if it’s in you it’s just part of you.”

Her job means she spends her days climbing, trimming and taking down trees and branches but she spends one night a week practising wood chopping with an axe in her back garden, using spare wood she’s collected from work.

The Clwyd Axemen, clockwise from top left, Mike Hanlon, Ben Jones, Alun Jones, Jon Bond, Dewi Pugh and Osian Williams. (Image: The Clwyd Axemen, clockwise from top left, Mike Hanlon, Ben Jones, Alun Jones, Jon Bond, Dewi Pugh a)

The Clwyd Axemen include four-time British Timbersports champion Elgan Pugh, from Bala, and he and Osian Williams, from Denbigh, are likely to attempt to set a  new record at the Welsh Game Fair.

The rarely performed Iron Man, a timed attempt at the under-hand, the standing block and finally the jigger board climb.

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For the under-hand the axeman stands on a log while swinging his razor-sharp axe to chop it in two, switches to the standing block which simulates felling a tree and finally tackles the jigger board climb, cutting two wedges into a three-metre trunk of wood to place boards in to climb up to chop the block off the top.

Catt, who will also be in action there at the event on the Vaynol estate, near Bangor, says it is a very physically tough and challenging sport and she added: “If you’ve maybe got two minutes seconds to chop through a 32-inch log that’s a massive amount of energy you’re expending in a very short space of time.

“It’s a good work-out and it keeps me fit but it’s not an easy sport to train for because nothing in the gym can prepare you for chopping wood.

“There are all shapes and sizes of athletes, male and female, and they all have their own techniques and I’m a slender person so have to use my own way.”