Aizkolariak, Basque axemen competitions and bets, and more

[Ugaldie]

I'm glad you liked it Miller '72 , tight competitions are the best to see.

Take a look to this beech cutting in Bilbao. Jon Rekondo in green Iker Vicente in red, clear view of exterior/interior axe change.

 

[Miller '72]

I'm glad you liked it Miller '72 , tight competitions are the best to see.

Take a look to this beech cutting in Bilbao. Jon Rekondo in green Iker Vicente in red, clear view of exterior/interior axe change.

That was tight and thanks for the new video.
I thought for sure that Rekondo was going to pull it off. I thought his form and speed were his advantage.

Everytime I watch i want to get into the mix.

Thank you Ugaldie .

 

[Ugaldie]

Everytime I watch i want to get into the mix.
Ugaldie .

Me too Miller '72 , but the road to reach to compete with the best is long, doing it perfectly and being the best you will compete this level the third year. You can challenge them to bets but you won't win the most preciated berets there.

Basque axemen league 2018 semi final, one of the hardest axemen event you can find. 6 (not 12 as I first wrote, I confused it with the final) hard knotty beech to cut by each axeman, not funny nor pleasant wood to cut in a competition (knots are aleatory) but great to see and learn.

The axeman who wins this event is one of the best between the best, can you guess his name and how old is he?

Enjoy the video.

https://www.eitb.tv/eu/bideoa/herri...kora--euskal-herriko-txapelketa--kanporaketa/

 

[Miller '72]

Me too Miller '72 , but the road to reach to compete with the best is long, doing it perfectly and being the best you will compete this level the third year. You can challenge them to bets but you won't win the most preciated berets there.

Basque axemen league 2018 semi final, one of the hardest axemen event you can find. 6 (not 12 as I first wrote, I confused it with the final) hard knotty beech to cut by each axeman, not funny nor pleasant wood to cut in a competition (knots are aleatory) but great to see and learn.

The axeman who wins this event is one of the best between the best, can you guess his name and how old is he?

Enjoy the video.

https://www.eitb.tv/eu/bideoa/herri...kora--euskal-herriko-txapelketa--kanporaketa/

Good morning Ugaldie

I do have a hunch, XabierOrbegozo, Arria the 5th.

I admit before I watch the video you linked to, I did just have to look back a few posts to get his name correct for my best guess...and personal favorite.
Now I will watch the video you linked.
Thanks Ugaldie !!

 

[Miller '72]

Ugaldie
Excellent competition! I did not expect to see 5 men...and boy was I wrong with whom I thought was going to be competing!
Oh well, it was very fun to watch and my boys also watched some as we got ready for their school this morning!! That was well worth being wrong in my hunch to have them watch some with me and asking me questions about the competition, the men, the language and where they are...all great.

Thank you as always sir!

Glad we didn't wager on my guess lol!

 

[Ugaldie]

good to listen it Miller '72 . It has happened much since my lasts messages. For example half a year ago Xabier Orbegozo competed against Iker Vicente in Iker's first bet. Nowadays the best axemen are Iker Vicente and the great champion of the last years Aitzol Atutxa. Atutxa made quite bad the video you saw, he is much more than he performed there.

Good to see your kids are interested in this sport . Don't worry about making bets with me, I don't use to it. The few times I bet (even if the bet is easy guess) I only bet a meal for both betters.

 

[old Lefty]

Spiffing knowledge and fantastic stories in this thread! OP: any change of you continuing this fresh info? Also anyone with pointers on where more info on this and other axe-sports might be available, your input would be most welcome!

 

[dandelion20]

These are great athletes I would bet on one of them.

 

[Ugaldie]

Hello,

It’s been a long time since I last took part here. I’m back again though I don’t know how long it will last: years or maybe just this one message. I’ll try to do my best, but my time has been, and still is, quite limited.

A lot of things have happened since the last time I wrote here. What’s really heating things up these days is the bet Iker Vicente made with Eneko Otaño.

At the age of 28, Iker Vicente Saralegi is one of the best—if not the best—axemen in history. As stated on his website: “He is the youngest champion in history, having won the Navarra Champion’s txapela (regional championship) at just 18 years old, and later the Euskal Herria Championship (the highest Basque championship) at 22. On the international stage, he has been a three-time World Championship runner-up in 2019, 2023, and 2025, making him the only European axeman to hold this distinction.”

At the age of 31 Eneko Otaño is a high performing axeman who is at the peak of his career. Although he may not seem to be on the same level as Iker, he is a solid competitor, and in recent months he has been fully focused on this bet.

Iker will have to cut 14 logs with a diameter of 40 cm and 4 logs with a diameter of 53 cm, in a row. Eneko’s task will be to cut 12 logs with a diameter of 40 cm and 4 logs with a diameter of 53 cm, also in a row.

As usual, the wood will be European beech, and each axeman will provide half of the logs. They have bet 6,000 euros against each other, and the competition is scheduled to take place on January 3rd at the Tolosa bullring at 17:00 (GMT+1).

Local TV will stream the event. Please open the following link half an hour before it starts:

KIROLAK 360 en directo | KIROLAK EITB

Vive la emoción del deporte en vivo con KIROLAK 360 en el portal de deportes KIROLAK. Sigue competiciones, eventos y partidos en directo con la mejor calidad.

kirolakeitb.eus

Hope you find it interesting. I will write more about this world when I can and if you are interested,

 

[Ugaldie]

Some context about the clash between Iker and Eneko.

This bet started as usual among high performing axemen. Iker challenged any axeman willing to compete with him at a given place and time. On this occasion, the chosen location was one of the traditional spots where Basque axemen issue challenges: the Cantábrico bar in the town of Tolosa at 19.30 PM. Local TV streamed the event. You can choose to enable closed captions (CC) to automatically translate it into English.

Eneko appeared, and negotiations were tough. Iker wanted both of them to cut the same amount of wood in December, while Eneko wanted some advantage and to postpone the bet. Both have known and competed against each other since Iker was 14, so they know each other very well. In the end, they reached the arrangement I described in the last post.

Taking into account who we are talking about, a difference of two kanaerdiko logs may not seem like much, but Eneko is giving his best. There’s also another clue in the choice of logs: if I were Iker, I would choose clean, high-quality wood to take advantage of my strengths. If I were Eneko, I would choose difficult wood to make Iker struggle and capitalize on his stubbornness.

At the moment, bets among enthusiasts are 250 to 500 € in favor of Iker at the Mendizabal bar, a place equivalent to the Cantábrico bar.

Ask anything if you are interested

 

[old Lefty]

Most interesting! I'll be watching this.
One question: what are the World Championships refered to?
Clearly not Timbersports

 

[Ugaldie]

Thank you old Lefty for your message, glad you find it interesting.

I’m referring to the Manny McCarthy Memorial World Championship. It’s not exactly timbersports, but it’s closer to that than to Basque axemanship. Even though the athletes’ body build and main techniques are quite different, he finished second on the podium in the 375 mm underhand event.

Note that, even though they cut only one log, that log is usually Australian timber, which is quite different from the softwoods used in timbersports. Take a look at the 2025 final, I would say they were cutting red gum. Competition starts at 11:30, podium at 20:00.

You gave me some ideas to write about, I'll do that later

 

[flexo2]

Iker Vicente Saralegi ya se apunt'o en una clinica? ! jolines va a ser una lucha sin piedad!
waiting for some more videos and basque axe contents!

 

[old Lefty]

Thank you old Lefty for your message, glad you find it interesting.

I’m referring to the Manny McCarthy Memorial World Championship. It’s not exactly timbersports, but it’s closer to that than to Basque axemanship. Even though the athletes’ body build and main techniques are quite different, he finished second on the podium in the 375 mm underhand event.

Note that, even though they cut only one log, that log is usually Australian timber, which is quite different from the softwoods used in timbersports. Take a look at the 2025 final, I would say they were cutting red gum. Competition starts at 11:30, podium at 20:00.

You gave me some ideas to write about, I'll do that later

Thank you for your prompt and precise answer! Brendan Meyer on "cover" of that video I see. Must watch that soon

 

[Ugaldie]

Hello F flexo2 . I don’t understand your comment about the clinic, but you are right both axemen have prepared thoroughly for this event. Eneko Otaño has competed in four challenges. He lost the first one, but he won all the following ones. I like his humility: he says that nerves make him start too fast and that he still has some technical aspects to polish. Nevertheless, he has improved greatly, and he thinks that tomorrow, if he can perform the same way he does at home, he will have a fair chance of winning.

Eneko Otaño: "Si soy capaz de hacer lo que hice en casa en la plaza, tengo opciones de ganar"

El aizkolari de Beizama acude a Tolosa esperanzado en derrotar a Iker Vicente, en la antesala del desafío explica que la apuesta será ajustada.

kirolakeitb.eus

Interesting side note: two beech logs 40 cm in diameter mean more or less a four-minute difference in this type of work. It’s very unlikely that Eneko will win with this difference, but if he does, it will be a huge surprise for everyone.

Thanks to you old Lefty , you have given me plenty of ideas. The first one is for the next video. Here you can see a very well-known Spanish survival/bushcraft YouTube channel owner making an entertaining video with Iker Vicente.

As usual, you can enjoy it by activating the closed captions (CC) with the option to translate them into English. Let me point out a few moments:

04:00 Broken axes. It doesn’t sound as good in English, but as I usually say (referring to grinds): “A good axe has a life; a bad axe lasts forever.” They talk about the price of this type of axes, they cost something close to 500€.

04:50 Woods. He says Basques use European beech, Australians use eucalyptus, North Americans use pinewood, and poplar is used in Timbersports. Beech is the wood he likes the most.

08:05 Differences between Basque and Australian racing axes. Essentially, Basque axes are lighter and shorter (better for endurance and accuracy), while Australian axes are bigger and longer (more focused on short bursts).

09:05 An axe specialized for larger logs

09:50 Iker offers good beech logs 50cm in diameter, Youtuber prefers an easier job so they change to smaller poplar logs.

10:50 Some fun, Iker shows how he can cut a log using the axe the YouTuber will use. Then the YouTuber uses that axe, while Iker uses a very bad axe that needs to be reground and Iker wins by far.

20:25 Good information. Some woods, like eucalyptus, require exact 45º cuts because of their long fibers. Beech is more forgiving, and you can use a more open angle on your main-hand side.

Iker says he is totally focused on tomorrow’s challenge.

 

[rjdankert]

What’s really heating things up these days is the bet Iker Vicente made with Eneko Otaño.

Thanks for posting. I am planning to watch tomorrow.

As an aside, I recently discovered Google Translate includes images and when I saw your post I thought I would give this a try:

Bob

 

[old Lefty]

Hello F flexo2 . I don’t understand your comment about the clinic, but you are right both axemen have prepared thoroughly for this event. Eneko Otaño has competed in four challenges. He lost the first one, but he won all the following ones. I like his humility: he says that nerves make him start too fast and that he still has some technical aspects to polish. Nevertheless, he has improved greatly, and he thinks that tomorrow, if he can perform the same way he does at home, he will have a fair chance of winning.

Eneko Otaño: "Si soy capaz de hacer lo que hice en casa en la plaza, tengo opciones de ganar"

El aizkolari de Beizama acude a Tolosa esperanzado en derrotar a Iker Vicente, en la antesala del desafío explica que la apuesta será ajustada.

kirolakeitb.eus

Interesting side note: two beech logs 40 cm in diameter mean more or less a four-minute difference in this type of work. It’s very unlikely that Eneko will win with this difference, but if he does, it will be a huge surprise for everyone.

Thanks to you old Lefty , you have given me plenty of ideas. The first one is for the next video. Here you can see a very well-known Spanish survival/bushcraft YouTube channel owner making an entertaining video with Iker Vicente.

As usual, you can enjoy it by activating the closed captions (CC) with the option to translate them into English. Let me point out a few moments:

04:00 Broken axes. It doesn’t sound as good in English, but as I usually say (referring to grinds): “A good axe has a life; a bad axe lasts forever.” They talk about the price of this type of axes, they cost something close to 500€.

04:50 Woods. He says Basques use European beech, Australians use eucalyptus, North Americans use pinewood, and poplar is used in Timbersports. Beech is the wood he likes the most.

08:05 Differences between Basque and Australian racing axes. Essentially, Basque axes are lighter and shorter (better for endurance and accuracy), while Australian axes are bigger and longer (more focused on short bursts).

09:05 An axe specialized for larger logs

09:50 Iker offers good beech logs 50cm in diameter, Youtuber prefers an easier job so they change to smaller poplar logs.

10:50 Some fun, Iker shows how he can cut a log using the axe the YouTuber will use. Then the YouTuber uses that axe, while Iker uses a very bad axe that needs to be reground and Iker wins by far.

20:25 Good information. Some woods, like eucalyptus, require exact 45º cuts because of their long fibers. Beech is more forgiving, and you can use a more open angle on your main-hand side.

Iker says he is totally focused on tomorrow’s challenge.

Very good info! Thanks for sharing!
As a proud owner of both Jauregi and Tuatahi racing axes they indeed do differ a bit.
I can keep good power and accuracy - for me - up longer with Jauregi whilst my Tuatahi just eats wood and makes good chips for the short time I can apply full power to it

 

[Ugaldie]

Quick note to say that the bet will not be retransmitted today. My sincere apologies. I’ll be there and will share some photos. As soon as I know when it will be broadcast on TV, I’ll let you know. Sorry for any inconvenience I may have caused.

Meanwhile, they are retransmitting a kind of Timbersports challenge between Basque axemen. This is the first serious step to try to make this sport popular among Basques. Hope you enjoy it.

Azken orduko albisteak eta ETB1eko programak, realitiak eta telesailak, online, zuzen-zuzenean | EITB taldea ETB1

Azken orduko albisteak ('Gaur egun') eta ETB1eko programak, realitiak eta telesailak, online, zuzen-zuzenean. Ikusi zuzenean EITB taldeko ETB1eko programazioaren zure programa gogokoenak.

www.eitb.eus

 

[Ugaldie]

Challenge day arrived. I dedicate this to those who are still in the phase where they think a given species of wood has fixed characteristics and don’t understand that the variability of wood can be huge.


Source

There was a big crowd outside the bullring. Queues had formed to buy the fanciest gold-colored tickets I had ever seen, and everything was prepared. Even public television was there to record the event and broadcast it, though no one knew when.



Everything was prepared except the weather. It was a cold, humid, rainy day with light winds, 6°C, and everything was completely damp. This was not a pleasant day to compete. Anyhow, the bullring was full, and expectations were high.



There was one thing we found surprising before any of the competitors came into the arena. More surprising than anything else and one of the most important aspects of axemanship was the wood. Take a close look at the image.



Four oinbiko logs (the big ones, with a diameter of 53 cm), two in each row, followed by the kanaerdiko logs (the standard ones, with a diameter of 40 cm). Note that we (the Basques) talk about the perimeter of the piece, not the diameter. I have changed it to make it easier to understand.

Another note: as you can see, Basques are capable of achieving great things, but we are not very good at selling ourselves, at least these days. You may find the presentation of this challenge a bit messy, but I think that’s because our focus is more on what each person does and how they do it, rather than on how it looks.

Anyhow, let’s set cultural differences aside and focus on the important aspect: the wood. Here you can see some very important things we look at. First of all, some of the logs still have bark on them. This can mean many things; usually, whoever brought those logs was looking for a specific feature in them. We’ll see what that feature is once they start cutting.

Another evident point of attention is the spot you can see on the right side of the first log in the right row. By all means it looked like a knot. We arrived early to secure (as you can see) a good spot and to analyze different aspects of the challenge, and this “knot” was what we and the people around us talked about the most. We thought it couldn’t be real, it might be some dirt. But it looked so real that this doubt persisted until they started making the cut.

Another aspect was the orientation of the logs. The oval ones were correctly placed, the tree rings partially covered and the parts that were not covered weren’t visible from our distance so we couldn't judge them.

I'll continue when I have more time.

I want to take this opportunity to apologize once again for the confusion I have caused. I sincerely hope that no one has been harmed.

 

[John A. Larsen]

Thank you old Lefty for your message, glad you find it interesting.

I’m referring to the Manny McCarthy Memorial World Championship. It’s not exactly timbersports, but it’s closer to that than to Basque axemanship. Even though the athletes’ body build and main techniques are quite different, he finished second on the podium in the 375 mm underhand event.

Note that, even though they cut only one log, that log is usually Australian timber, which is quite different from the softwoods used in timbersports. Take a look at the 2025 final, I would say they were cutting red gum. Competition starts at 11:30, podium at 20:00.

You gave me some ideas to write about, I'll do that later

Absolutely amazing how fast he cut thru that log! John