Lumberjacks and jills from across New England chopped, cut and chainsawed their way through a number of events at the Rochester Country Fair’s Woodsmen Competition on Sunday.

This year marked the fair’s 15^th anniversary as families from across the South Coast and beyond arrived at the fair grounds at 65 Pine Street.

Almost as old as the fair itself, the Woodsmen Competition pits participants against each other and the clock in a variety of events.

Though machines have made a lumberjack's job easier, Sunday’s events were inspired by a time when lumberjacks had to rely on an axe, a bow saw and not much else.

In the "springboard chop," a competitor uses an axe to chop two pockets into a 9-foot pole and then place 6-inch wide springboard platforms in the pockets. Loggers needed the technique to establish a cutting platform above old growth trees. Now, it’s an event that showcases speed, agility, strength and balance.

A sawmill worker, Evan Flewelling from Loudon, New Hampshire, won the first heat. Flewelling said he got interested in the sport as a student at the University of New Hampshire where he studied forestry. He joined the school’s woodsmen team and has been competing ever since.

Another competitor, Katie Noyes of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, isn’t in the logging industry, but she also started competing as a college student.

“I got into it by accident,” Noyes said. “I had a friend who suggested we join the woodsmen team at the University of New Hampshire, where we were going to school, and I said, ‘no way.’ Eventually, she convinced me, and it’s been a lot of fun.”

Noyes has competed in the Rochester competition for two of the past three years.

Closer to home, Tim Reed and his father traveled from Raynham to compete. Reed said he works at the family business, a tree removal company, and returned to the competition for a second year.

He placed well in the "underhand chop" event where participants stand atop a short log and swing an axe until the log is broken in two.