After being crowned Australian timbersports rookie champion in Melbourne earlier this month, Deloraine’s Daniel Gurr was hand-selected to travel to Norway to attend a Chopperoos training camp ahead of the world team championships.

Launceston-born Gurr, who is the first rookie to receive such an invite, cut his teeth on the traditional Tasmanian woodchopping show circuit before following his father Matthew into timbersport competition.

“I started out woodchopping but since this series came to Australia and my dad competed I started in the rookie series a couple of years ago,” Gurr said.

“When I first started I didn’t much like it but since I’ve been competing I love it. It’s a great advert for the sport and will help it advance and take woodchopping further.

“It’s lots of different events all put into one big event and then they add up all the points so you’ve got to be good at everything.

“You even have things like the hotsaw event which you don’t get in normal chopping.”

The former Deloraine High School student, who is now a qualified arborist, will be using the Norway experience to prepare for another European adventure next May when he is due to compete at the rookie world championship in Marseille, France.

“After I won the Australian rookie championship they offered me the chance to go on this trip with the Chopperoos.

“I won’t be competing but just going to the training camp before I go back to Europe next year to compete in the rookie world champs.

“I just want to get experience and learn about the different wood they cut there, watch how the guys train and learn from them. The whole experience will be helpful for next year.

“I’ve never been outside Australia before so it should be good to visit a different country. It’ll be a great experience to see chopping in a different part of the world.”

National selectors said they were particularly impressed by Gurr’s consistency on the stock saw, a discipline with a reputation for numerous disqualifications.

Gurr admitted he didn’t know too much about what to expect in Norway other than cold weather.

But he was hopeful that Australia could extend its dominance in the teams world champs which it has won for the last two years with record totals.

“I’m definitely learning from the best,” said the 20-year-old.

“Hopefully I can win the world rookie championship and in future years make the Chopperoos team and go to worlds with them.”