STIHL HSA 65 Awarded Popular Mechnics Breakthrough Award

Popular Mechanics has honored STIHL with a 2010 Breakthrough Award for the STIHL HSA 65 hedge trimmer, the first product with 36-volt STIHL Lithium-Ion battery-power technology. The HSA 65 was one of only 10 products recognized with a Breakthrough Award which celebrates the “most brilliant innovators and products of the year.” The sixth annual presentation event will be held on Oct. 5 at the Hearst Tower in New York.  The Popular Mechanics write up is here.

“We are very proud to receive this distinguished award from Popular Mechanics and honored to take a place with so many of the country’s other top innovators,” said Stephen Meriam, our national sales manager. “The HSA 65 hedge trimmer is the first product in the STIHL Lithium-Ion platform and next year consumers can expect to see additional cordless products.”

We launched the HSA 65 in July 2010 and in 2011 we plan to introduce additional models including two string trimmer models in the spring and a chain saw and a blower in the fall. The advanced 36-volt STIHL Lithium-Ion battery technology provides a platform for cordless tools that meets STIHL's high standard of quality and performance.

The HSA 65 provides environmentally responsible hedge trimming with professional results. With zero exhaust emissions and reduced noise, it is ideal for use in noise- and emission-sensitive places such as residential areas, public parks, roof gardens, hospitals and municipalities.

The candidates and winners for the Breakthrough Awards program were chosen by the editors of Popular Mechanics along with members of the magazine’s editorial board of advisers, which includes astronaut Buzz Aldrin and MIT’s Amy B. Smith, along with contributing editors who reviewed the nominations to help choose the innovators. All year Popular Mechanic’s editors tested hundreds of products in a wide range of categories in order to arrive at the final list for the Breakthrough product awards.

A complete report of the Breakthrough Awards will be published in the November issue of Popular Mechanics on newsstands October 12.

STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Series Celebrates 25 years

We celebrated the 25th anniversary of the STIHL^® TIMBERSPORTS^® Series this year and it was a great one.  The world’s best lumberjacks and lumberjills went for gold in the original extreme sport at both the US Championships and World Championships. 

The US event was held over three days at the Oregon State Fair in Salem, OR. Over 20,000 fans came out to watch 54 athletes compete for the Speed Climb, Boom Run, Collegiate and U.S. Championship titles.  Jason Wynyard of New Zealand walked away with his ninth championship title and a brand-new RAM 1500 truck among other prizes.  An impressive performance was put in by American Will Roberts, the first former STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Series collegiate competitor ever to  advance to the professional Championship round. Roberts, who is from Groton, NY, won the 2005 STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Collegiate Championship and has been a stand out in the professional series ever since.  He also qualified as part of the US team to travel to the STIHL^® TIMBERSPORTS^® Series World Championships.

Oregon also played host to the STIHL^® TIMBERSPORTS^® Collegiate Championship.  North Carolina State’s Logan Scarborough bested five other collegiate competitors in four professional disciplines (single buck, standing block chop, stock saw and underhand chop) to win the 2010 Collegiate title. Paul Smith’s College’s Jon Preston captured second-place honors just three points behind Scarborough. Hometown boy David Green, representing Oregon State University, finished a strong third, three points behind Preston

Our World Championships were held Sept. 3-5, in St. Johann Austria.  16 of the world’s top choppers and sawyers competed for the 2010 STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Series World Championship title. New Zealander Jason Wynyard took top honors, making him one of the most decorated athletes in the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Series’ 25-year history. The event also featured a team competition.  The U.S. team (made up of Arden Cogar, Jr., Matt Cogar, Dave Jewett, Brandon Sirguy and Will Roberts) was narrowly edged out by the New Zealand team to take home the silver. 

Logan Scarborough represented the U.S. on an international rookie team. Scarborough sawed a fierce single buck, helping the rookie team set a qualifying time better than half the professional field and advancing them to the second round. His performance made his U.S. pro counterparts beam with pride.  

The Series begins airing on ESPN2 on October 10.  Get the latest information and up-to-date news and video on all the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Series competitions by going to www.stihltimbersports.com .

ANDREAS STIHL AG & Co. KG Creates the World Logging Championships Wiki

ANDREAS STIHL AG & Co. KG announced the creation of an international information platform for the World Logging Championships: http://www.wlc-wiki.com/. As a central platform for the logging championships, wlc-wiki.com offers all essential information about disciplines, federations, rules, photos, world records and much more in German and English. Enthusiasts, for example, will find never-before-seen videos and interesting facts about safety and chain saw technology here. As a Web 2.0 application, http://www.wlc-wiki.com/ is updated continuously. All fans and professionals are invited to share their knowledge with the logging community.

“We wanted to support the logging community and develop a central platform for all professionals and fans,” states Lars Klein by way of describing ANDREAS STIHL AG & Co. KG’s motivation for creating a central information platform for the World Logging Championships. Here professionals and fans will find dates, background information, facts – and, of course, many competitors.

“There are thousands of competitors, hundreds of events throughout the world, 29 national federations alone, and thus, of course, a sheer endless amount of content. That is why we opted for a Web 2.0 platform,” the STIHL sponsoring and events manager elaborates. www.wlc-wiki.com is a platform that grows continually just like Wikipedia does. “We welcome content from all users. This is the only way for the wiki to become the biggest information and knowledge platform for the logging championships.”

At the World Championships, which will be held September 23-27 in Zagreb, Croatia, the world’s logging elite will compete to be crowned champion in the disciplines of tree felling, bar and chain fitting, limbing, bucking by combined cuts, and precision bucking.