{"id":551506,"date":"2026-03-19T22:57:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T22:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/551506\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T22:57:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T22:57:12","slug":"rise-in-women-woodchoppers-prompts-introduction-of-new-female-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/551506\/","title":{"rendered":"Rise in women woodchoppers prompts introduction of new female events"},"content":{"rendered":"

When 16-year-old Kallie steps onto her log and lifts her axe, a crowd has already gathered.<\/p>\n

Like her father, grandfather and great grandfather before her, woodchopping is part of her family’s legacy.<\/p>\n

But she’s the first female in her family to take up the interest.<\/p>\n

Kallie is part of a growing wave of women entering competitive woodchopping, eager to prove their place in the arena alongside men.<\/p>\n

“People have laughed and said, ‘You’re wood chopping? That’s not very lady-like,'” she said.<\/p>\n

“But I’m trying to represent the younger girls because it’s a male-dominated sport and I think having a role model really helps.”<\/p>\n

Spanning back four generations, Kallie’s dad and grandfather competed, and her great-grandfather worked chopping railway sleepers.<\/p>\n

\"father<\/p>\n

Kallie\u2019s dad and grandfather competing in 2001. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Growing up in Tasmania, the birthplace of competitive woodchopping, Kallie first picked up an axe at 14.<\/p>\n

Despite initial worries that she might “take a toe,” her dad was happy when Kallie became the first female in the family to complete.<\/p>\n

“My dad was so excited cause I’ve always been my dad’s son in a way, and now we get to complete together,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Competing is what made me fall in love with woodchopping. Just the atmosphere and the crowds. And I love a crowd.”<\/p>\n

\"teenage<\/p>\n

Kallie\u2019s dad has returned to compete with her as a father-daughter duo. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

While a few still doubt women belong in the sport, Kallie said the support she receives keeps her going.<\/p>\n

“I’d be walking into a toilet at a show and people would say, ‘Oh, I saw you out there. Don’t give it up,'” Kallie said.<\/p>\n

“Especially the ladies, they really want to see me out there, and that really keeps me going.”World champion only had men to compete against<\/p>\n

Last year, Kallie welcomed two local girls her age into the sport and recently competed against a newcomer in her 40s.<\/p>\n

“Before them, it was just me and the world champion, Amanda Beams, competing,” Kallie said.<\/p>\n

“On the log we’re very competitive, then we come off and give hugs and say, ‘You did so well.'”<\/p>\n

Beams, 54, said she also first started competing as a teenager, but at that time, competing against men was her only option.<\/p>\n

“When I first started, we’d have six or eight female competitors, now it’s 50 at a comp,” she said.\"woman<\/p>\n

Amanda Beams says the influx of new competitors is lifting standards and building a stronger culture in the women\u2019s division. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

She describes the growth as a turning point.<\/p>\n

“I see it as, we’re a flower, we’re a bud, just starting to open.”<\/p>\n

Kallie said the sports handicapping system, where competitors receive advantages or penalties based on previous performances, helps level out the playing field.<\/p>\n

“That’s the beauty of the handicapping system, is that it can be anyone’s game,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Still, I’ve never beat Amanda.”<\/p>\n

\"teenage<\/p>\n

Kallie is determined to compete outside of Tasmania and dreams of heading overseas one day. (ABC News: Marc Eiden)<\/p>\n

While a win over the world champion would be impressive, Kallie said the true goal was beating the log itself, not your opponent.<\/p>\n

“It’s the most rewarding feeling to defeat the log, you’ve gone through it, you did that, no-one else,” she said.<\/p>\n

Kallie plans to compete interstate for the first time this year, a step her great-grandfather could never have imagined.<\/p>\n

“When I started competing, my pop said to me, ‘My dad would have never believed that a lady in our family would be doing this.’ And I went, ‘Well, you better believe it,'” Kallie said.Women events to come to woodchopping<\/p>\n

The growth in female participation is driving major changes, with competitions across the country now introducing events that were once only open to men.<\/p>\n

“Timber sports are about to introduce a new discipline for women \u2014 which is the standing block. The springboard is coming too. This whole new world is opening up,” Mrs Beams said.<\/p>\n

And the prize money is also catching up.<\/p>\n

“When I first started wood chopping, you were cutting for $250 at a royal show for first prize. Now, the world title at Sydney Show in the women’s underhand is $6,000.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Amanda Beams winning the Australian Women\u2019s Championship in the underhand chop at the 2023 Adelaide Stihl Timbersports. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

It’s a shift Beams believes reflects the rising visibility of female competitors and the public’s appetite for the sport.<\/p>\n

“The level of competition Australia-wide in the women’s comp is next level,” Beams said.<\/p>\n

“And luckily for us, the public love it. They just love watching women wood chopping and sawing.”<\/p>\n

\"woman<\/p>\n

Amanda Beams in action during the Single Sawing competition in Austria, with her husband Dale cheering her on. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Today, Beams holds five world titles in the underhand chop and two Jack and Jill sawing titles with fellow world champion and husband, Dale Beams.<\/p>\n

She’s also the captain of the Australian women’s woodchopping team.<\/p>\n

“We’re not at the level of the guys, but the competition now is in a really good place,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When 16-year-old Kallie steps onto her log and lifts her axe, a crowd has already gathered. Like her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,272821,272822,272823,9367,144009,85,42981,272819,272820,3069,15623,130587],"class_list":["post-551506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-competitive-woodchopping","tag-female-woodchopper","tag-generational-woodchopping","tag-rural-women","tag-rural-youth","tag-sports","tag-takeover","tag-takeover-burnie","tag-takeover2025","tag-teenagers","tag-women-in-sports","tag-woodchopping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}