BLADE 2007 - World Cutting Championship
The competitors this year were:
-
John Fitch
-
Jim Crowell
-
Lin Rhea (Defending Champion)
-
Reggie Barker (2 Time Champion)
-
Gayle Bradley
The championship was determined by points awarded in five cutting competitions:
-
Chopping a 2x4 on edge (timed event)
-
Cutting a cigarette placed in a shell casing without knocking it over
-
Cutting through a bundle of 5 one-inch ropes (1 point for each robe cut)
-
Cutting full cans of seltzer water
-
Cutting water bottles (1 point for each bottle cut)
All must be done with the same knife without damaging the blade.
Jerry Fisk
oversaw the competition
John Fitch
started things off chopping through the board in 8.75 seconds
Jim Crowell
cut through in 9.6 seconds
Defending
champion Lin Rhea posted a time of 12.6 seconds
Reggie
Barker made the cut in 6.5 seconds
Gayle
Bradley amazed everyone with a 4.6 second cut!
Nobody
successfully cut the cigarette without knocking it over
The rope
cutting competition was led off by John Fitch who cleanly sliced through the
five 1" ropes
Jim Crowell
also made a clean cut
Lin Rhea did
not make it through all 5 ropes
Reggie
Barker takes his turn
Finally
Gayle Bradley cuts the ropes
Next was the
soda can cut
The final competition was the water bottles
(I missed a couple of water bottle cuts because they faked me out with practice swings)
Although John Fitch had the most points, he was disqualified because his blade chipped.
Lin Rhea finished 4th in the competition.
3rd place
went to Jim Crowell
Gayle
Bradley finished in 2nd place
And the
champion for the 3rd time is Reggie Barker!
Reggie was
presented with a plaque and a beautiful engraved belt buckle
The Knives
