Lachlan and Alex competing together in the double-handed saw, under the watchful eye of their father Matt.
Local axemen, Lachlan, Alex and Matt Rice recently spent seven days woodchopping at the 2026 Sydney Royal Easter Show. Considered the ‘Wimbledon’ of woodchopping, it is competitor verse competitor, state against state, country against country and features multiple World championships.
Both Lachlan and Alex had a massive program: sawing together, with their father Matt in the father and son combo, individual underhands and standing blocks and ending, over the last three nights in a state verse state relay. All the chopping saw both boys improve dramatically throughout the week.
Highlights for Lachlan (18yrs) included winning many heats, making three semi finals, and coming second in the 275mm open underhand final.
Alex’s highlights included first place in the u/16s junior underhand final, just scraping into the u/18s hc underhand and coming a respectable 4th in the final.
On the second night of the State v State relay, young Alex was elevated by the team manager to chopping the 2nd underhand for NSW.
“This was a breakthrough chop for Alex,” said his father Matt. “Being so young in the u/21yrs relay, there was a lot of pressure on him to perform, and he stepped up , the improvement in that one race was massive.”
Lachlan lead the team off, also in the underhand, and NSW finished third place behind Victoria and Queensland.
Lachlan in action at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
Alex in action at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.