While much of the attention during Saturday's events at the Osage County Fair in Linn focused on the popular Mud Bowl, one of the longest running chain saw contests in Missouri was also taking place .
The chain saw contest was introduced in 1980, when the fair moved to its current location off of Route CC .
Mark Loethen, event coordinator for the Linn Lions Club, said awards are given based on the number of participants, as well as the type of cuts performed on the pieces of wood and logs.
"For those that compete on a regular basis, we keep a stop watch on them to see how fast they cut up and down," Loethen said. "The common class competitors, we just time their cuts going down on the log. One person may cut in several different classes. Those classes are based on the size of the chainsaw and size of the logs."
Those competing regularly bring their own saws, Loethen said.
"Some do all classes," he said. "One guy could do four or five cuts. For the common classes, we provide the saw so it levels the playing field. We do have an amateur class where the participants just come out and we also provide saws for them."
They also have some completions where the old manual two-handle cross-cut saws are used.
"I like the people - they're a great bunch of guys," Loethen said. "We get people coming from as far as Joplin. Mostly the same people come every year. They don't do it for the money, because it's only $10 for first place in each class."
R.C. Mantle, of Centertown, was one of the founders of the competition and provided the wood and some of the saws used at Saturday's competition.
"There used to be competitions all around the area, even at the State Fair in Sedalia, but not anymore," Mantle said. "I worked for 41 years at Riley Chevrolet and I still enjoy working on small engines. I'm not competing this year because of health problems, but a few years ago my wife and I won the cross-cut competition. I'm 75 and she's 60."
Another of the founders, Richard Hatfield came to Linn in 1973 and operated a saw mill in town.
A few years ago, he had an accident while cutting wood which left him in a wheel chair. Loethen said Hatfield is an inspiration to many since doctors didn't think he would survive and have the use of his hands.
"My dad told me to look out for the widowmaker when I would cut trees and wouldn't you know look what happened," Hatfield said. "I've been around cutting wood all my life, and it is a challenging skill. I can remember when my oldest son was 12; we had to get something for him to stand so he and I could do the cross-cut together."
Bobby Frank is from Winona in Shannon County in south central Missouri. He was a novice when he got into the competition in 2001.
"I'd never done it before, but I love racing. And racing these type of engines is a lot cheaper than dealing with a racing car," he said. "If you blow out an engine on a car you're looking at thousands of dollars and it's no where near that with these.
"It was an uphill battle to get better, but I have and I enjoy it so much and the people you meet are some of the best in the world."