Growing up, every time her family went camping, Lauren Bergman would wander into the woods with an ax and happily chop up the firewood.  

“I was always a bit of a tomboy,” she said.  

Little did she know the experience would come to serve her as a competitive logger athlete, let alone beat a world record by the time she was 32.  

Bergman’s competitive logging journey started at Flathead Valley Community College, after her brother encouraged her to join the college’s logging sports team.  

“He wanted the team to win, and he knew I could help them win,” Bergman said. 

She decided to give it a shot and ended up leading the team to a few victories. She was particularly skilled at the standing block chop, an event she consistently won.  

In this competition, a vertical piece of wood sits on a metal stand, and the athlete cuts at it with the ax from both sides. The first person to split the log in half wins. 

Thirteen years after joining the community college’s logging team, Bergman set a new world record at the U.S. Women’s Pro Championship on July 26 with a time of 26.36 seconds. The previous record was set by Samantha Graves in 2024 at 30.02 seconds.  

There are 12 qualifying spots in the U.S. Women’s Championship, which is held in the four-discipline women’s competition format, according to STIHL Timbersports.  

“For whatever reason, I’ve been blessed to have confidence in my abilities and not too afraid to hurt myself,” Bergman said. “I’m able to have some good technique and put some full power into it.” 

Bergman preps for each chop by thinking of a phrase to focus on while she’s hitting at the wood with her ax. The day she set a new world record, the logger athlete had one focus — hit the mark. 

“My focus was just making each hit count,” Bergman said. “A couple hits in, I realized, ‘Wow, this is going really good. Don’t screw this up, keep doing what you’re doing.’” 

Bergman turned around to look at the clock as soon as she finished.  She knew she’d just set a record.  

“I didn’t expect that to happen,” Bergman said, recalling feeling excited and grateful in the moment. 

Her husband and two daughters sat in the audience, cheering her on; however, her 6-year-old slept through the whole thing.  

Very few people make it as serious logger athletes, Bergman said. She and her husband, whom she met at college when they were partnered in sawing competitions, are among the few on their team who continued competing after graduation. 

“That’s part of the reason why I kept in this sport,” Bergman said. “Both my husband and I really love it.” 

Bergman’s husband is a professional arborist, and they run a tree servicing business together called Big Sky Arborists. He’s been supportive in Bergman’s training, she said, providing wood for her to practice on and helping take care of her gear. 

Axes and saws for competitive logging run about $800 and $2,500 apiece, respectively, Bergman said. There’s a wide range of axes and saws that are used for different kinds of wood.  

“It’s quite a bit of an investment,” she said.  

While she hasn’t had any sponsorships yet, Bergman said she’s earned a few donations over her career. One came from Australian ax maker Pete Flentje, owner of Engineered for Axeman, where she purchased axes from regularly.  

“He said I was a pretty good chopper and that I had pretty good potential,” Bergman said. 

In return, she recommended his axes to other logger athletes to drive more business his way. For the next season, Bergman is searching for sponsorships to help cover travel and equipment expenses. She usually competes in eight to 10 competitions per year.  

Meanwhile, both she and her husband are encouraging their daughters to enter competitive logging. Each has already been gifted their own little ax, and the family is traveling to Idaho soon for an event.  

“I’m trying to talk [my daughters] into competing,” Bergman said. “I know I can talk them into it if they know they can get a Barbie at the end of it.” 

Reporter Hannah Shields can be reached at 758-4439 or [email protected].