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 Eight individuals signed up to participate in the
event. Each one was asked to draw a number out of a hat and that is
the log they would be assigned to for the competition.
Drawing the number one log was Chris Friedlein of Gibson City. The
second log went to Evan Coombs of Bloomington. Lawrence Dubbelde of
Mackinaw drew the third log. The fourth log went to Jonathon Norin
of LeRoy. Casey Ballinger of Atlanta drew log five with Zach Darnall
of Bloomington getting six, Cody Friedlein of Downs getting seventh
and Curtis Prochnow of Normal getting the eighth and final log.
There are specific rules for the professional split. The contestants
cannot begin until time is marked by the announcer which was Heidi
Mueller.
Each full log must be split into eight rails. The rule for a good
rail is that at each end of portion of the saw line from the end
must remain. If a rail splits crooked and loses that end, it doesn’t
count.
When done splitting, all rails must be separated and all tools must
be removed from the worksite before calling time.
If a wedge is left in the rail or tools left in the work zone, there
is a 30 second dock for each offense.
Rails are to be completely separated with no threads or splinters
connecting any two pieces.
Once time is called, the contestant is done and cannot go back and
correct an error.
It had been noted by Bob Rankin with the Association that the
contestants are at the mercy of the luck of the draw. Sometimes a
log will be particularly tough while another may be softer. There
are also occasions when the grain of the log is twisted, making it
very difficult to get a good clean split with the proper finish on
each end.
All of the logs for splitting events this year were provided by
Baker Tree Service and Mad About Trees of Lincoln. On Sunday
afternoon, after the sign up was completed it was announced that
because there were logs left over, there would be an additional
sorting of the logs and any that appeared to be better than what was
on the field would be switched out.
Thomas Madigan with Mad About Trees moved logs into place and made
quick work of laying the original logs and also switching out the
replacements.
When the event began, Casey Ballinger was off to a ferocious start.
He worked quickly and was the first contestant to call time with a
finish time of just over five minutes.
Timer/judges were assigned to watch and time the splitters. When the
log belonging to Ballinger was examined, it was noted that there
were two rails that were still connected. It was a hard blow, but
the contestant had to be disqualified according to Railsplitter
rules.
Because he had called time, Ballinger could not go back and correct
his oversight.
The split went on with the other seven contestants working to get
the job done. The logs were not cooperative as several of the men
struggled to get the split accomplished. Long time contestant and
often winner Chris Friedlein had a tough log as did his son Cody.
However, Cody beat out dad and was the official first place
finisher.
Cody finished with a time of nine minutes and two seconds. Third
place went to Norin with a time of 9:56. Evan Coombs came in fourth
with a time of 10:30:05 and Chris Friedlein finished fifth with a
time of 12:33.
[to top of second column] |
Curtis Prochnow finished with a time of 13:27:15 and
Lawrence Dubblede recorded a DNF or did not finish.
Dubblede gave it all he was worth but the log was not to be
persuaded to split. After nearly 20 minutes of effort, the
contestant conceded that the log had won.
This year there was a nice purse involved for the
first five finishers. Cody Friedlein was awarded $1,000 for his
first place finish. There were also monetary awards for the
remaining top five finishers.
Each winner received a certificate and a little brown pouch along
with their checks. Mueller explained that each pouch contained 50 $1
coins. The coins were a throwback to the mid-1800s when there were
no paper dollars. The first one dollar bill was circulated in the
United States in 1876. Prior to that dollar coins were the currency.
Mueller also called out for Casey Ballinger to come to the circle of
winners. She had in her hand a roll of coins that she presented to
Ballinger, calling it the newly invented “hard luck” award.
Ballinger's disqualification was due to an oversight. All the other
contestants knew that if he had seen the error before calling time,
he could have quickly severed the ties and still beat the rest of
them by several minutes. Around the circle, all of the top five
winners congratulated Ballinger on his outstanding performance and
invited him to join him in the group shot of the winners.
New this year was an “All Around Railsplitter” award. Throughout the
weekend, points were assigned to each competition and a tally was
kept. At the end of the day, Cody Friedlein won the first ever All
Around Railsplitter with a total of 42 points.
Others on the board included Jonathon Norin with 40 points, Heidi
Miller with 26, Bryce Muir with 25, Lawrence Dubbelde with 24,
Stephanie Friedlein with 20, Chris Friedlein with 19, Jackson
Johnson with 18 and Curtis Prochnow with 16.
This year’s organizers were well pleased with the weekend. The
weather was warm and sunny, crowds enjoyed the camps on both days,
and the competitions were well attended.
Sunday’s events marked a memorable end to the Golden Anniversary of
the National Railsplitter Festival. The community looks forward to
the next half century of rail splitting competitions. We thank the
Abraham Lincoln Railsplitting Association for preserving our
heritage through re-enactments.
[Nila Smith] |
