Kaslo’s Andrea Hand, who six years ago set out to win a national title and later had to relearn how to walk following a catastrophic injury, is the Canadian women’s logger sports champion.
Hand captured her first national title in Kelowna at the STIHL Timbersports Canadian Championships on Aug. 17-18. The 39-year-old defeated defending champion Stephanie Naud of Quebec in the final heat to win and earn a berth at the International Women’s Cup next year in Europe.
“This has been the carrot that I’ve been chasing, and I think now that I’ve got this internationals is next,” she said. “So I’m not done, I’m not even close to done.”
Out of eight competitors, Hand finished first overall in the underhand chop competition while setting a new national record time of just 26.2 seconds. She also won stock saw with a personal best time, was third in standing block chop and set a new personal best time in single buck where she finished third.
Points were awarded on a descending scale from eight to one based on finishing position, which meant eight points handed out for first place and just one point for last place.
Hand’s total at the end was 28 points, one more than Naud, and in an overall time of one minute 32.57 seconds.
She was pushed by Naud, who last year edged Hand by one point and also finished second at this year’s world championships in Germany.
The victory was a long time coming for Hand.
Her first appearance at the national championships was in 2018 when she finished fourth. A return trip to the event was delayed first by the COVID-19 pandemic, then again in 2022 when Hand was involved in a snowmobiling accident that led to what she describes as major orthopedic injury.
“It’s been a road since 2018 from not being able to attend due to life, and then COVID, and then a massive trauma and learning how to walk again to coming back last year.”
Hand is chair of Kaslo Logger Sports, which this year celebrated its 50th anniversary. She said she hopes her win helps bring attention to the long-running competition in her hometown.
“A lot of people come to our show because of the international competitors, and they also know how decorated a lot of our competitors are and how many titles and nationals and records that they hold. So it’s pretty amazing.”
