“Number one in the world with axe and saw”
The first true World Championship Series was staged in Ulverstone, Tasmania, in 1970 with 300 competitors in representative teams from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. The World Champion of Champions was George Foster.
George, Tasmanian farmer and woodsman, came late to competitive chopping, entering his first event at the age of 27. At that time, with a young family, the prize money was a great incentive: “When I want something like a wireless for the car, I wait till I’ve won enough prize money to buy it.”
An accurate and powerful master technician, according to Henry Munday, “George was pretty to watch back in his prime; he had a shortish backswing that didn’t waste any energy, and he put his axe exactly where he wanted to with every strike and with a lot of power.”
With son David, George made the double handed sawing “The Foster Event” from 1979 until his retirement in 1989. Their 11th consecutive win that year was even more remarkable because George had undergone major heart surgery less than six months earlier. After doing a victory dance, George said “This was my most thrilling win as I thought my career was over. Our first win back in 1979 was great, but it can’t compare with the elation I feel at the moment.”
As younger son Peter commented, “They were like two parts of the same person when they were sawing. Totally in tune with each other…” David and Peter continued this legacy, creating a 21-year Foster monopoly of the event.