“This is my dream team 2019,” said team coach Armands Lapiņš, commenting on what can be accomplished in three years.
The team held day-long training camps at least once a month to make sure they get every detail right in the five main disciplines. “We were thinking of new ways to gain a few seconds, streamline our skills to get to this level,” said Ogre Technical College Forestry program fourth year student Jānis Kristers Ločs.
Lapiņš said they place great emphasis not only on the ability to gain the maximum number of points, but also on doing everything safely. “They can do a good job, but penalty points can neutralize that," said Lapiņš.
"It's a great feeling that Latvia won so many awards. Usually the Estonians and Lithuanians are stronger, but now we've been nipping at their heels and they understand that Latvians can do it too," said fourth year student Tīna Marianna Ķikule.
The dream team's last competition will be in the spring, and afterwards they'll be replaced by the best students from the lower years. As the university the team members plan on attending doesn't have a competition team, they plan to continue practicing under Coach Lapiņš after graduating. Finding competitions won't be hard, but finding saws will be, as the state only provides college students with saws.
The Lumberjack 2019 competition was also covered by Belarusian media.