Fun and fitness are a couple of reasons Kris Brown loves the sport of woodchopping, but it's bigger than that.
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"I have my own family, but I have a whole woodchopping family as well," Brown said.
Brown said she got into the sport 25 years ago and had been a member of the Australian women's team for around 15 years.
She said there was about 15 to 20 axewomen now competing in Tasmania.
Women often start out in the sport through Jack and Jill sawing, which was how Brown said she had begun.
"We're usually sitting there cheering them [husbands, partners or boyfriends] on and then eventually one day someone will say to us 'oh do you want to have a go'.
"And sawing is probably the easier of the disciplines to teach a female to get into woodchopping."
Originally from Queensland, Brown moved to Tarleton in 2019 via Ballarat, where she and Brad Turner own KBT Competition Saws.
She said her favourite discipline was the single sawing events.
"It's a real challenge to operate a crosscut saw and to get it running smoothly."
History at Burnie
Brown was the first woman to take part in the three person relay chop at Burnie Carnival.
"It was a little bit of a challenge because I did actually end up having my three events of the day all in a row. Probably within the space of an hour - hour and a half - I did three underhand chops."
The event was won by the front markers at 56 of Brad Turner, Richard Sheehan and Peter Foster. Brown's team with Matthew Gurr and Michael Maine didn't get close to reaching the winners, finishing last off 164.
As one of the handicappers for the North-West association, she admitted she "probably should have adjusted the marks for my team a little bit".
Legacy
Brown said Tasmania's strong legacy in the sport flowed into support for anyone wanting to pick up an axe or saw.
She said world champion David Foster and current Australian women's team captain Amada Beams both provided strong support for women's events.
"We've got a lot of really awesome, past world champions here. I'm getting assistance to improve my skills from some of those world champions.
"And we're always more than happy to show people how to get into our sport, and it's just fantastic for fitness.
"And we've got so many wonderful current and past world champions that are always willing to show people, and particularly the girls, what to do."
World title hopes
A competition described as "different" to the others is the Stihl Timbersports Australia Women's Championships. The changed format means axewomen are on stage with one other person for an underhand chop, a stock saw and a single buck [saw].
"You've got to go basically as hard as you can in each event without making any mistakes," Brown said.
"We've got the three events, the men's run six events.
"But that's something that's been progressing along the last couple of years and I think when we get to a certain number of countries competing in the women's championships, we'll have a world championships like the guys."
She said a number of countries held Stihl women's championships.
"So I'm actually looking forward to the day that there could be a Stihl Timbersports World Championship for women."
While at the Royal Sydney Show, Brown is the Jill and Jill record holder along with her co-Jill Jinaya Niass
She said there was a progression from local regional shows for state titles to the "Wimbledon of woodchopping" in Sydney.
At the 2016 Royal Sydney Show, Brown described her Jack and Jill Championship win as "pretty special", which was nine months after having her daughter Olivia.
She said it wasn't considered a world title event, but work was being done for it to be recognised as one.
Overall, Brown said women do make up the numbers in the woodchopping arena.
"We love competing just as much as the guys."