Tauranga's Steph Dryfhout is a champion tree climber and is looking forward to her next event. Photo / George Novak
Tauranga's Steph Dryfhout is a champion tree climber and is looking forward to her next event. Photo / George Novak
Turning a dream job into sport has led to champion status for tree climber Steph Dryfhout.
The 24-year-old Tauranga climber is the current national women's champion and has placed second at the International Tree Climbing World Championships in Knoxville, United States last month.
Unsurprisingly, Dryfhout is an arborist and saysher part in the sport came about because of a love of horticulture.
"It was a dream job to have as a kid but I didn't even know it was a job. After school I worked in a tree nursery, I enjoyed it and that is where the passion for horticulture started," Dryfhout says.
"I am really competitive and I have been competing for two years. I went along with some friends to try it out, it was a lot of fun and you meet cool people," she says.
Dryfhout is no stranger to fringe sports having represented New Zealand in canoe polo in 2014 and 2016. Despite tree climbing's fringe status, Dryfhout says the New Zealand Arboricultural Association supports both men's and women's national champions with $3000 for their tilt at a world title. Kawerau's Scott Forrest claimed the men's world title.
The sport involves a range of events including starting at the top of the tree and hitting bells on the way down, a rescue event, and ascent with gear, a no-gear speed climb and target event with the throw line.
Typically at major events, points from those disciplines are combined to find the overall champion. Dryfhout claimed the national title in Dunedin in November and was rapt to score second place at the world champs. She is planning to return to the world champs next year, which will be held in Albuquerque, US, but before that she'll need to reclaim her national title once again.
"I have unfinished business in Albuquerque next year. There are regional competitions in New Zealand and nationals this year are in Hawke's Bay in November. I need to win the national title again to qualify for the world champs.
"I will have to study the score sheets a bit more and look at what the judges want to see. A lot of it is about planning in the tree and fitness."
Before that however, she'll be competing at Red Bull Branched Out 2019, a three-day speed tree climbing competition in South Australia in October. It's a skill-based event involving climbers hitting targets in a 30m high tree canopy with emphasis on the quickest times. She also has two more regional competitions in New Zealand this year - one in Hamilton and one in Auckland.
As an arborist Steph Dryfhout gets plenty of practise at heights. Photo / George Novak
Dryfhout's coach Paul Kenny says Dryfhout has a lot of determination.
"She is pretty quiet but deep down she has fair bit of drive behind her. The sport takes strength and agility and there are so many different styles that people use. It is about working well with the tree and the best tree climbers are doing that work day in, day out – they don't need to do a lot of training.
"New Zealand climbers have done really well in the last 10 years and people are starting to hear about it now."
2019 National Tree Climbing Championships: November 15-16. Anderson Park, Napier.
