Competition helps professional tree-climbers improve their speed, accuracy and strength

Matt Follett watches as another man in a hard hat and safety harness tries to scale a tree on the UPEI quad on Saturday.
"What's he doing?" Follett wondered as the man tried in vain to ascend the maple tree.
But the sight wasn't unusual to Follett, since he and 16 other competitors at the university climb trees for a living every day.
He was merely remarking on the other man's choice of technique during the tree-climbing competition for the Atlantic chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture.
"The thing is, you have to be careful here not to try new things," he said.
"You want to use stuff that you've practised. There's lots of new techniques coming out, but you have to do what you know so that muscle memory takes over."
Follett should know. He won on Saturday for the second time in a row at the Atlantic event, earning a spot at the July 2009 international championships along with 37 others in Providence, Rhode Island.
Contestants from around the Maritimes competed in five events, including the speed climb, the aerial rescue, the work climb, the throw line and the secured foot lock.
Most of the tasks involve navigating around a tree to certain stations, or throwing rope lines from the ground at various targets placed on branches in order to score points.
It's designed to test the speed, accuracy and strength involved in various aspects of tree-climbing that the competitors experience during the course of their jobs.
"You can learn about a ton of stuff here, like new techniques and new gear," said Follett, who works out of Halifax.
"The competition has really helped to improve our working environment because we get to see what everyone's doing and it brings people together."
The top three finishers after the five events compete in the master class competition to crown the champion. Follett beat out Nova Scotia's Trevor Burton and Danny LeBlanc of Moncton to defend his Atlantic title.
Watching from the sidelines this year was Hampton, N.B.'s Sarah Yeomans, 21, who is in the midst of her first season as an arborist in Moncton.
Yeomans hopes to be the first woman to compete in the Atlantic competition next year, but for now she's literally learning the ropes by watching the others.
"Hopefully next season I'll be ready to come in and have some fun," she said.
"This would be the first competition I've attended, so I'm just trying to get a feel for everything. I'll go back and do a little studying and a lot of training."
While she said there aren't many women involved in tree-climbing or arborist jobs in the Maritimes yet, more are getting involved across the country.
"It's good for anyone who loves nature and the study of trees, there's a lot of science that comes into it."