Jason Wynyard (14 November 1973 – 4 October 2023) was a New Zealand champion

woodchopper Woodchopping (also spelled wood-chopping or wood chopping), called woodchop for short, is a sport that has been around for hundreds of years in several cultures. In woodchopping competitions, skilled contestants attempt to be the first to cut or s ...

from Kawakawa. He won over a hundred world titles in the sport. Wynyard was born in

Te Awamutu Te Awamutu is a town in the Waikato region in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the council seat of the Waipa District and serves as a service town for the farming communities which surround it. Te Awamutu is located some south of Hamilto ...

on 14 November 1973. Of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

ancestry, he affiliated to the

Ngāti Maniapoto Ngāti Maniapoto is an iwi (tribe) based in the Waikato-Waitomo region of New Zealand's North Island. It is part of the Tainui confederation, the members of which trace their whakapapa (genealogy) back to people who arrived in New Zealand on the ...

and

Ngāpuhi Ngāpuhi (or Ngā Puhi) is a Māori iwi associated with the Northland region of New Zealand and centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands, and Whangārei. According to the 2018 New Zealand census, the estimated population of Ngāpuhi is 165, ...

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

. He was educated at Waitākere College. Wynyard won the individual world championship nine times. He holds the world record for Single Buck (with assistant) with a time of 9.39 in 2007. Wynyard won the

Stihl Timbersports Series The Stihl Timbersports Series is a series of woodsman or wood chopping competitions where the athletes compete in the use of axes and saws in manners typical for lumberjacks. It was founded in 1985, and currently includes six different disciplines, ...

14 times. He won the title in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. In the

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

, Wynyard was appointed a

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for services to the sport of wood chopping. Wynyard was the father of former

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

men's basketball player

Tai Wynyard Tai Hikuroa Wynyard (born 5 February 1998) is a New Zealand professional basketball player who last played for the Taranaki Airs of the National Basketball League (NZNBL). He began his career playing in his home country for the New Zealand Break ...

. In May 2023, it was announced that Wynyard had been diagnosed with stage 4

Burkitt lymphoma Burkitt lymphoma is a cancer of the lymphatic system, particularly B lymphocytes found in the germinal center. It is named after Denis Parsons Burkitt, the Irish surgeon who first described the disease in 1958 while working in equatorial Africa. ...

, and after undergoing aggressive treatment he was advised by doctors on 18 August that he had only weeks to live. He died on 4 October 2023, at the age of 49.

References

1973 births 2023 deaths People from Kawakawa, New Zealand Ngāti Maniapoto people Ngāpuhi people People educated at Waitākere College New Zealand woodchoppers Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit New Zealand Māori sportspeople Deaths from non-Hodgkin lymphoma Deaths from cancer in New Zealand {{NewZealand-sport-bio-stub