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Three in a row at TIMBERSPORTS® Championship

June 21, 2024/in News, Press Release/by Admin

Three in a row at TIMBERSPORTS® Championship: The STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® British Championship delivered another weekend of edge-of-your-seat action at the Royal Three Counties Show in Malvern, with Glen Penlington securing his third Pro Championship title in style. Competition for places was fierce, so the action kicked off on Friday with the Pro Championship qualifier. Five […]

BASF – at the forefront of research and development

June 21, 2024/in News, Press Release/by Admin

BASF – at the forefront of research and development: Professional turf care is an art form that requires skill, precision and high-performance products to be successful. Sometimes even the most experienced and skilled greenkeepers have been let down by their products, which is why BASF invests heavily in cutting-edge technology and the best experts in […]

Three in a row at TIMBERSPORTS® Championship

June 21, 2024/in News, Press Release/by Admin

BASF – at the forefront of research and development

June 21, 2024/in News, Press Release/by Admin

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Three in a row at TIMBERSPORTS® Championship

June 21, 2024/in News, Press Release/by Admin

Three in a row at TIMBERSPORTS® Championship: The STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® British Championship delivered another weekend of edge-of-your-seat action at the Royal Three Counties Show in Malvern, with Glen Penlington securing his third Pro Championship title in style.

Competition for places was fierce, so the action kicked off on Friday with the Pro Championship qualifier. Five of the lowest ranked athletes from the 2023 British Championship, along with nine up-and-coming competitors took to the stage. With the top six athletes earning the right to take part in the 2024 British Pro Championship on Saturday, tensions were running high. But the top six all put in solid performances to progress through with Ben Chapman taking the top spot, closely followed by John Tunstall and Joe Groom.

Three in a row at TIMBERSPORTS® Championship

Saturday’s action delivered more thrilling heats, and reigning champion Glen Penlington had his sights firmly set on securing his third Championship title in a row. Focussing first on the Underhand Chop, Penlington delivered an impressive start recording a time of 25.89 seconds, closely followed by his biggest rival for the title, 2014 champion Rob Chatley. And this excellent form continued throughout the competition, with Penlington achieving the fastest times in all five out of the six disciplines, and earning himself three personal bests in the process.

It was only the Stock Saw where Penlington didn’t get maximum points, but it did deliver a national record, courtesy of George Spencer. Spencer almost set a new British record in the Hot Saw too with a blistering time of 7.39 seconds, but the excitement was soon over, when judge Andy Hall disqualified him for an incomplete cookie.

In the end, Penlington’s dominance was obvious, with a 24 point advantage over second placed athlete Rob Chatley, to complete the hat trick of Championship wins. “I can’t quite believe I managed to win five of the disciplines this time. I think I got a bit lucky with the wood compared to some of the others, but it’s brilliant to be the champion again,” said Penlington after the competition. Graham Turner from Scotland completed the podium with a third place finish.

With the Pro championship wrapped up, all eyes turned to the competitions on the Sunday, starting with the British Women’s Championship. 2023 champion Justine Narusa was the one to beat, but a bad start to the competition with disqualification in the Stock Saw got worse after she ran out of time in the Standing Block Chop.

Instead, Felixia Banck from Denmark, newcomer Rachel Ferrington, and the youngest competitor, 17-year-old Libby Arrowsmith were the athletes to watch with solid performances from all three of them, including a new Danish national record for Felixia in the Stock Saw. Banck’s experience in logger sports ultimately saw her take the overall win, but Arrowsmith turned heads to take second place as the top-ranked British woman. Ferrington also impressed in her first ever TIMBERSPORTS® competition, taking third place overall.

Finally, it was the Rookies’ turn to take to the stage. 2023 Rookie champion Jack Morris was feeling confident going into the competition, having recently achieved a sixth placed finish at the Rookie World Championship in Milan in May. And his confidence was not misplaced, as he stormed through all four disciplines getting maximum points in the Underhand Chop, Single Buck and Standing Block Chop.

In his last year competing as a Rookie before he moves up to the Pro league, Morris certainly went out on a high beating his nearest rival and fellow axe club member, Zac Powell, by six points. Powell was pleased with his own results though, after achieving two personal best times in the Stock Saw and Standing Block Chop and improving on his fourth placed finish in 2023. The final spot on the Rookie podium was taken by Rowan Luxton, who also managed to jump up the rankings after finishing fifth in 2023.

After a thrilling weekend of extreme sport action, focus now switches to the World Championship in Toulouse, France in November. Penlington will have to wait until later in the year to find out if he has done enough to qualify for the Individual competition, but the tricky task of selecting the athletes to compete in the Team World Championship starts now.

“All three competitions this weekend were packed full of excitement and drama,” said Vicky Tween, TIMBERSPORTS® manager at STIHL GB, “but it’s onwards and upwards now for the athletes who make the British team. They will be laser-focussed on training to make sure they do their country proud.”

For full results from the weekend’s competitions, visit the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® database.

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

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BASF – at the forefront of research and development

June 21, 2024/in News, Press Release/by Admin

BASF – at the forefront of research and development: Professional turf care is an art form that requires skill, precision and high-performance products to be successful.

Sometimes even the most experienced and skilled greenkeepers have been let down by their products, which is why BASF invests heavily in cutting-edge technology and the best experts in the business to ensure that its solutions are ahead of the game, providing exactly what is needed and when.

BASF – at the forefront of research and development

Whether a golf course manager, agronomist, farmer or landscape architect, many professionals rely on effective products that keep turf free of diseases, pests and weeds through every season.

With the backing of thousands of employees worldwide, BASF is perfectly positioned to create a powerful portfolio of product solutions that can be tailored to meet the demands of every turf landscape. Effective and efficient research and development underpins every solution that BASF creates, and it is not a company that is content to rest on its laurels. It constantly invests in the growing opportunities that digitalisation and supercomputing power offers, meaning that it constantly maintains its place as an industry leader. In fact, it invested 2.1 billion euros into research and development expenses last year alone, with 1000 products being patented.

For example, brand-new product Maxtima was launched at BTME 2024 by BASF Turf, a new cutting-edge demethylation inhibitor (DMI) fungicide. This crop safe solution was devised after BASF’s scientists discovered new enzyme assays in their research.

Rob Gladwin, head of technical management for UK said: “The assays test the efficacy with which the DMI chemistry, which includes azoles, inhibit the fungal target site, CYP51 –– blocking this enzyme prevents a fungal cell from producing ergosterol causing it to die.

“Together, the team discovered a unique property of an entirely new family of triazoles –– this molecule has a ‘hook’. It’s an isopropanol linker. This moiety is a small part of the larger molecule and it’s unique for a DMI. We synthesised it and noticed very strong fungicidal effects.”

The launch of Maxtima pays testament to the cutting-edge research and development that the BASF team undertakes every day. In fact, BASF’s researchers are working on hundreds of products at any one time, with research centres in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.

Furthermore, BASF collaborates with a global network of top universities, research institutes and companies, giving direct access to external scientific expertise, talented minds from various disciplines, as well as new technologies. This helps to quickly develop targeted, marketable innovations, strengthening its portfolio with creative new projects and reaching its targets for worldwide expertise and growth.

To find out more about BASF’s industry-leading turf products, visit https://www.pestcontrol.basf.co.uk/en/Products/Product-innovation/Turf/

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for fun, fresh and engaging content.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

Three in a row at TIMBERSPORTS® Championship

BASF – at the forefront of research and development

Three in a row at TIMBERSPORTS® Championship

BASF – at the forefront of research and development

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Three in a row at TIMBERSPORTS® Championship

Three in a row at TIMBERSPORTS® Championship: The STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® British Championship delivered another weekend of edge-of-your-seat action at the Royal Three Counties Show in Malvern, with Glen Penlington securing his third Pro Championship title in style.

BASF – at the forefront of research and development

BASF – at the forefront of research and development: Professional turf care is an art form that requires skill, precision and high-performance products to be successful.

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