It was man versus nature in a grueling test of skills, saws and “manliness” at the 59th annual Midwestern Foresters Conclave on Saturday at the 4-H Fairgrounds near Luther.

The Midwestern Forester’s Conclave is the daylong Olympics of lumberjack events, including bolt throwing, pulp tossing, tobacco spitting, chain throwing and log rolling.

This is the first time in about 20 years, said Jeff Wallace, senior in forestry and president of the ISU Forestry Club, that Iowa State has been asked to host this event. The turnout for the day’s events was higher than he had ever seen before, which shows a heightened interest in the sport of lumberjacking. ESPNU was on hand to film the event.

“We’ve dedicated three months of our lives to this event,” Wallace said.

The ISU Forestry Club competed against five other forestry clubs, including those of Minnesota, Purdue, Michigan Tech, Southern Illinois University Carbondale and Missouri. There were both men’s and women’s events, and Iowa State earned a combined 105 points.

But the main event of the day was power tool company Stihl hosting three competitions that would provide thousands of dollars in equipment and a chance to compete in a national competition.

The Forestry Club chopped down all the wood used in the day’s competitions, Wallace said.

Since it has been a span of years since they’ve hosted the conclave, they had to “start from scratch,” which meant chopping all trees and carrying the trunks out of the forest by hand and processing them for the events.

“We major in manliness,” said Wallace of the Forestry Club. “We just want to eat red meat and grunt a lot. But we want everyone to know that you don’t have to be a forestry major to be in the club. It’s open to everyone.”

Kyle Sporrer, senior in forestry, was a competitor in one of the Stihl events. He took second place in the stocksaw event, with a time four hundredths of a second below the winning time, said James Donahey, senior in forestry.

“I just focus on the where the blade is going in the wood and on my stance and footing,” Sporrer said of his stocksaw technique.

The calling to the lumberjacking lifestyle is a strong one, Sporrer said.

“I saw events like this on TV and lumberjacking looked like the manliest thing in the world,” said Kevin Engelken, senior in forestry.