Cuttin’ for your country

Woodchopping used to be must-watch television — like Top Town, Mastermind and It’s In The Bag. But while the sport has lost its profile, its never quite gone away. In late summer, Peter Malcouronne went to the small Bay of Plenty town of Katikati to watch a down-on-its-luck New Zealand side take on Australia.

Head past the haunted house and the bouncy castle, past the ride-on lawnmowers and around the racing pigs (reputedly the fastest in all Katikati) and you’ll see them — 10 giants in green tracksuits, driven by drizzle to a bloke’s huddle under a cypress tree. “So this is the New Zealand summer?” says Justin Beckett drolly.

He’s one of the star draws for the Katikati Axemen’s and Community Carnival, held alongside the town’s annual A&P show. An insouciant fellow with thick, greying hair and stunted goatee, Beckett’s a big man. No — he’s a huge man: 6ft 4in (193cm), nearly 22 stone (139kg), with a Minotaur’s shoulders and hands like coal buckets. He’s been cutting for his country for 11 years and now, at 31, is reaching his prime as an axeman. He’s won several world titles, but his finest moment could be just four hours away when he’ll lead Australia against New Zealand…