A great lineup of rollers! (L-R) Lexi Plummer, Bianca Zimmer, Taylor Everson, Paige Everson, Dominic Wilson, Wellesley Howard-Larsen. The North Shore Rollers had a great time at the Namekagon River Roll, where they log roll not in a tank or pool, but the river.
This year’s Namekagon River Roll Off in Hayward, Wisconsin held on Sunday, July 19, was the largest one-day log rolling competition ever held—anywhere— with hundreds of professional and amateur matches conducted over a 9-hour period.
The event is held in the Lumber Jack Bowl, an area once used by logging companies to stage logs before rafting them down river to market. To keep the wood from jamming up on the river lumberjacks would run out onto the logs and push them apart with long poles. This is how log rolling began, as lumberjacks from different camps would bet on their roller to be the best of the best in friendly competitions.
Cook County YMCA North Shore Rollers
Lexi Plummer won two and lost two matches in the U7 girls event. All told there were 31 entrants, with Lexi finishing in the top 15 in the round robin competition. It was a great showing for this talented young log roller.
Taylor Everson rolled against 25 competitors in the U10 girls’ division, and she nearly came away with a top three finish after winning 7 matches. Taylor lost 3-2 in falls in a match to qualify to roll for third place. All told, Taylor rolled for 45 minutes in matches throughout the day, and finished fifth in a strong field.
Dominic Wilson lost his first match in the boys’ U13 division before winning the next four matches. He lost in an ever-so-close roll-off against another Dominick: Dominick Magnone from Lacrosse, Wisconsin who edged him out for third place in a long bout with a lot of white water flying and the boys fighting desperately to stay on the log to avoid falls until one would hit the water in a spectacular fashion.
Paige Everson had her best tournament of the year, rolling through a field of 19 girls in the U13 girls’ bracket. Everson received a first round bye, then won her first match, then lost her second match, before coming back to win three straight. She finally lost to third place finisher Haley Miller of Hayward. Paige’s final match went to a “4-log.”
Rollers start on a 1 log. After one minute they switchtoa2logfor2minutes, then a 3-log for 3 minutes before competing on a very small diameter 4 log until one person has taken 3 out of 5 falls to win the match.
Because the wind had picked up on the river, the girls were getting blown down the river as they both fought to stay on the log.
In just her second tournament ever, Bianca Zimmer lost her first match to unbeaten Livi Pappadopoulos in the U13 division. Pappadopoulos is so dominant that she hasn’t lost a match in three years and has rarely taken a fall over that time.
Putting that behind her, Bianca went to work and beat her next four competitors and then had to face Paige, her teammate and practice-rolling partner to decide who would move on in the fight for awards. Using her experience and tournament savvy, Paige beat Bianca in a friendly match. It was a great experience for this young, talented log roller.
In the U-17 semi-pro girls’ bracket Wellesley Howard-Larsen finished third to take home the only hardware for the team.
Many kids from the North Shore Rollers will travel to Hayward again this week for the Lumberjack competition and log rolling/ boom running World Championships. The following week the Minnesota state log rolling championships will be held in Grand Marais. Come out and watch these amazing young athletes compete on logs in an old-time sport that once again, is growing roots.
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