Forest Festival event organizer thanks all who helped

Volunteers carry the new log to Ballaine Lake for the birling event Saturday. (UAF photo by JR Ancheta)

By John Yarie
SNRAS forest sciences professor and event organizer

The 16th annual Farthest North Forest Sports Festival was a tremendous success. The weather was great, the folks attending and participating were fantastic, and participation in all the events was at record levels. What really helped to make this event outstanding were all the people involved in one way or another. I would like to thank:

• Jamie Hollingsworth, Tom Malone and David Valentine for their tremendous help in setting up Friday afternoon and taking down the events Saturday afternoon and all the judging duties that they performed Saturday. Those three were involved in judging five of the seven events. Jamie also built the new ax throwing target.
• Teresa Hollingsworth for once again compiling the scoresheets into a semblance of order. We would be lost without you.
• Mingchu Zhang for judging the bow saw event and help with log stabilization in the birling event.
• Martha Westphal for arranging the Nanook bear, a fun addition to the event.
• John Fox for judging the ax throw competition. We had a record of 93 people participating in that event this year. Congratulations John on hanging in there till the very end.
• A number of students both undergraduate and graduate (and the Resource Management Society) were helpful in setting up events on Friday afternoon and supplying hot coffee and donuts in the morning and bratwurst during the afternoon fire building and birling events at Ballaine Lake. The students were Jake Hakala, Justin Fletcher, Eric Schacht, Lauren Lynch, Tricia Kent and Bryant Wright.
• Northland Wood and Herbert Baxter supplied the two new logs used in the birling and log rolling competition. With these new logs we were able to redesign the log for the birling competition.
• Russell Dennis and Beth Bryson of the Ester Volunteer Fire Department who served as the EMTs that were required. Luckily we had no substantial injuries that required their help. Their presence was greatly appreciated.
• SNRAS/AFES Publications staff for all the help with the advance publicity and subsequent reporting on the event.

Again thank you folks for helping to put this event together. We look forward to next year!