Husqvarna is the main sponsor of the European Tree Climbing Championships (ETCC) which starts today and runs until Sunday (June 21–23), in Schlosspark Putbus, close to Stralsund, Germany.

The International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) hosts the ETCC each year in order to give dedicated tree climbers in Europe the chance to compete against one another, testing their abilities and nerve under pressure. The event is also an opportunity for experts in the industry to share the latest in climbing techniques and equipment.

Josephine Hedger, part of Husqvarna's H-Team and last year’s European and UK & Ireland champion

Climbing championships are the chosen sport of the arborist community and the ETCC brings together, in-person or online, Europe’s large, passionate arboriculture industry over a single three-day period.

Husqvarna say this is a great opportunity for themselves, supporting the European event for the very first time, having been a longstanding sponsor of the North American Tree Climbing Championship and the International Tree Climbing Championship.

Gent Simmons, Director of Product Management Forestry at Husqvarna, spoke about what this year’s sponsorship means to the company. He explains, “We see the arborist community as an extension of our family and the ETCC as a key date in the calendar for this family to come together. We understand their passion and we share it here at Husqvarna.

“This year is the first opportunity for us to sponsor the event and we’re very pleased to connect with the best climbers in the industry, who love our urban forests and share our passion for safety and education within tree care."

This year’s event takes place across three days with Saturday (June 22) as the first day of competitive climbing with five individual competitions set to test skilled climbers from around Europe. Following Saturday’s results, Sunday (June 23) is the Masters Challenge which will see the top scorers from Saturday compete to be crowned the European champion.

Back competing in 2019 is last year’s European and UK & Ireland champion, Josephine Hedger. Part of the Husqvarna H-Team, Josephine has been training for the championships and hopes to replicate the success of previous years, commenting, “I’m looking forward to this year’s European Championships and can’t wait to test myself again in Germany. Competition is always tough and I expect nothing different this year - it’s down to me to keep up my record and continue to perform at a high level."