I grew up around lumberjack sports and spent most of my time on or near hallowed ground at Lumberjack Bowl in Hayward, Wisc. I can remember images of Jim McKay of Wide World of Sports interviewing athletes that climbed trees and chopped logs since I was able to walk. I never imagined my life would follow a path of events that has led me to make a career of this truly rugged sport. Forty years later I have won World Titles of my own but the memories still keep coming and they just get better.

The ESPN Great Outdoor Games has elevated our sport and it's athletes to new heights. Watching Canadian Gregg Hart win his gold medal in tree topping in 2001 was worth gold to me. Gregg is man who gave up the sport like many of us when it got stale, but life was to send him a challenge.

It came in the year 2000 in the form of an invitation to compete at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games. If accepted he would compete against the best athletes in the world and captured for the world to see on ESPN. He did accept the challenge but missed out on gold that first year and vowed he would do all it would take to win this coveted medal.

In 2001 Gregg didn't disappoint himself or those who were lucky enough to watch him compete. The final race for gold was exceptionally close but the competitors Hart had to beat were even closer — closer as in best friends.

Years earlier, two friends, Gregg Hart & Ed Smith, both vowed they would retire from this sport because it was changing faster than their traditional logging heritage could endorse. New technology, new formats and younger competitors all seemed to challenge their traditional logger style, yet the quest for gold made Gregg Hart sideline the old-dyed-in-wool traditions as he went prospecting for his own gold.

After beating all takers in 2001, including Ed Smith using traditional gear, this outstanding athlete found he had evolved and hit pay dirt. He embraced the new technology, fought through the new bracket formats and bested even the youngest and maybe the strongest of athletes.

Gregg Hart's efforts did turn into gold. It came in a brief moment, 60 feet above the ground when he alone looked out over the Adirondacks on a bright sunny afternoon with arms raised and tears of joy revealing who the 2001 Gold Medal in Tree Topping belonged to — it was Gregg Hart. It is now 2003 and Gregg's best friend Ed Smith has resolved his own conflicts of traditional views and the new world of Lumberjack Sports. Ed has been watching from the sideline and I will bet Ed Smith is planning a little "claim jumping" at this year's event. There is more here than friendly rivalry! It's Reno and "Thar's gold in them hills!"