International community supports World Logging Championships
In addition to domestic sponsors and partners, also the international community – the International
Association for Logging Championships (IALC) – is behind the competitions.
member organisations also organise the world championships, with IALC providing support in
international planning and finding sponsorship. The tasks of the IALC also include working out the
competition rules and measurement methods.
At the head of IALC is the president. The current president, elected in 2018, is Sandra Schwender
from Germany. Sandra says she is the first woman holding this post. She has been involved in IALC
activities for years. In 2014 she was elected by Germany to the IALC board, where she was a member
of the technical committee.
Sandra Schwender added that she became the president at a very complicated time. “We were faced
with two major crises – first, the Covid-19 pandemic, and then the war in Ukraine. These two crises
also brough about something that had never happened before. Namely, we were forced to cancel
one stage of the World Logging Championships (WLC) and the whole competitions fell out of its
historical two-year cycle. This is why the next championships will take place already next year, in
September 2024. Where the next competitions are held will be decided at the IALC General Assembly
during the WLC in Estonia. However, negotiations with potential host countries are already
underway,” Schwender said.
The history of World Logging Championships dates back to the year 1970, when the former
Yugoslavia and Hungary organised the first competitions. Unfortunately, there is no precise
information about the early days, and it is not certain when the international organisation was
established. The initial organisation IOC was not much involved in organising the competitions.
However, as the organisation costs of the competition were quite high for the countries, the IOC was
dissolved in Turin in 2004, and the current organisation, IALC, was founded.
Loe lisaks
