TRENTON – Forget what Mainers and Minnesotans conflictingly say about the true origin of that greatest of lumberjacks.

Paul Bunyan wasn’t from either of those places. And here’s another secret for you … shhh … don’t tell anyone … He’s still around.

He’s 6-foot-4, weighs 286 pounds, and you know what? He’s from New Zealand. He doesn’t have an ox. Doesn’t need one.

People around these parts call him Jason Wynyard. You might want to call him sir.

Wynyard was the hands-down star of the show on Saturday when Wynyard was the hands-down star of the show on Saturday when the Stihl Timbersports Series landed in Maine to stage two of its four regional competitions in front of 300 fans at the Great Maine Lumberjack Show.

The competitions will be aired on ESPN in November.

Choppers, cutters and sawyers from across the nation, Canada, New Zealand and Australia flocked to Trenton to show their stuff in six events.

According to the score sheet, Matt Bush of Croghan, N.Y., emerged as the overall winner, based on his 42-point performance over six events. Wynyard amassed 40.

Ignore that. In truth, Wynyard was the man. He won all three chopping events – the springboard, standing and underhand chop, and emerged victorious in the only sawing event he entered – the single buck.

And in a sport that has its roots in the bigger-than-life world of the mythical lumberjacks, Wynyard surpassed any expectations.

He didn’t just win. He won big.

Wynyard took the underhand chop by nearly five seconds. That, in a race that lasted only 14.36 seconds, or 19 vicious slashes of his razor-sharp ax.

He won the standing chop in 13.90 seconds, shearing through the poplar in just 14 swipes. His nearest rival finished in 19.44 seconds.

The burly New Zealander nipped Dave Jewett in the single buck by just two-hundredths of a second. Ironically, Wynyard was using a saw that Jewett sold him after finding out it was too big to wield.

“I couldn’t pull it,” Jewett said. “I sold it to him, he’s pulling it with no problem, and now he’s beating me with it.”

Still, the 200-pound Jewett said the prospect of beating the much bigger Wynyard in the event is compelling.

“I’ve got nothing to lose. I’ve been taking second and second and second to him. If I can beat him with that saw, it will be one hell of an honest win.”

Wynyard also won the springboard, an odd combination of climbing and chopping.

Competitors chop two holes in an upright log – and stand upon a board driven into each hole much as a swimmer stands on a diving board. Then they use leverage and accuracy to chop through a block, all while perched nine feet off the ground.

Wynyard won despite the fact that he first tried the event last year.

“It was terrible,” the softspoken Wynyard said of his first effort in the springboard, sharing a secret that could limit a mere mortal lumberjack.

“I’m afraid of heights from the outset,” he said. “It’s a totally different thing when you’re swinging an ax up there as well.”

Ahh, the ax. You can’t stroll into Snow & Nealley and get your hands on one of these babies. And if you could, they might be a bit out of your price range.

Wynyard said a top-notch competition ax, like his New Zealand-made Tuatahi, costs about $400. He reckons he owns about 50 of them, each ground for a different kind of wood. Just to get a raw ax ground into game-shape, it takes about 20 hours, he said.

The result is a finely honed weapon that the competitors quickly resheath after an event, before any harm can come to it.

The magic wand for Saturday was a savage-looking “banana grind.”

Overall, most competitors say, the sport is pretty safe. But listen for and you will hear horror stories about what could happen.

So far, Wynyard is unscathed.

“I’ve nicked my toe a couple of times, I’ve got to admit, but I’ve been pretty lucky,” he said before tossing out an unintentional lumberjack pun. “I haven’t lost any limbs or anything.”

Killing time between events was the responsibility of “Timber” Tina Scheer, who opened the Trenton facility with her husband and who is the full-time master of ceremonies of the Timbersports Series.

Scheer served as a combination tour guide, teacher and comic for the sellout crowd.

After Wynyard flogged the field in the standing chop, then raised his ax in victory, Scheer shook her head at the margin of victory.

“Doesn’t it just make you crazy?” she asked the appreciative audience.

And after Gaston Duperre’s log in the standing chop disintegrated on his final swing, turning it into something resembling a pile of kindling wood, Scheer was quick with a jab.

“Gaston, you are so strong,” she said in a mock French accent. Then, turning to the crowd, she explained what they’d seen.

“Gaston doesn’t just chop it. He splits it, too,” she said.

One of the most popular events in the Timbersports series is the hot saw contest. Essentially, hot saws are the anything-goes monster trucks of the sport.

If you can lift it, any saw is fair game. Power it with a motorcycle or snowmobile engine, start it up, and let it rip.

Mike Sullivan of Winstead, Conn., a former minor league catcher who took his one-game cup of coffee in the big leagues catching for Tom Seaver with the Cincinnati Reds, said the event leaves little margin for error.

“If you ran [a hot saw] 10, 15 seconds more, the thing’d probably blow up,” Sullivan said.

Rick Halvorson of Alma Center, Wis., had the hottest saw, slicing through a log three times in 6.30 seconds.

The husky 46-year-old Halvorson said he and his wife, who teams with him to compete in Jack and Jill sawing competitions, have fans around the world, but said he never had much time for sports when he was in school.

“My dad had a farm, and we were too busy farming to take time to monkey with that stuff,” he said. “In the fields, we were like athletes. We were on the run all day long.”

Timbersports

Stihl Timbersports Series AT TRENTON, Saturday

Overall: Matt Bush 42 points, Jason Wynyard 40, Harry Burnsworth 34, Dave Jewett 27, Mike Sullivan 26, Arden Cogar Jr. 25, Carson Bosworth 22, Rick Halvorson 21, Warrick Hallett 14, Brad Turner 14

Standing chop: Jason Wynyard 13.90 seconds, Arden Cogar Jr. 19.44, Dave Jewett 19.62, Matt Bush 19.75, Brad Turner 20.22, Brad Hains 21.73, Harry Burnsworth 22.17, Mike Sullivan 22.75, Warrick Hallett 25.54, Donald Lambert 28.55

Springboard chop: Jason Wynyard 52.6 seconds, Carson Bosworth 55.5, Dave Jewett 55.7, Matt Bush 57.4, Mike Sullivan 59.6, Karl Bischoff 1:02.0, Harry Burnsworth 1:03.0, Brad Turner 1:04.0, Robert Waibel 1:08.9, Arden Cogar Jr. 1:09.7

Underhand chop: Jason Wynyard 14.36 seconds, Matt Bush 19.30, Harry Burnsworth 20.16, Mike Sullivan 22.33, Carson Bosworth 23.06, Robert Waibel 23.24, Arden Cogar Jr. 23.84, Gaston Duperre 25.14, Brad Turner 29.42, Jerry Scutt 29.97

Single buck: Jason Wynyard 14.84 seconds, Dave Jewett 14.86, Matt Bush 15.43, Carson Bosworth 15.64, Rick Halvorson 16.50, Arden Cogar Jr. 17.16, Mike Sullivan 17.85, Brad Turner 18.37, Harry Burnsworth 19.62, Gaston Duperre 19.94

Stock saw: Matt Bush 12.90 seconds, Paul Cogar 13.25, Warrick Hallett 13.41, Harry Burnsworth 13.50, Arden Cogar Jr. 13.67, Rick Halvorson 13.84, Arden Cogar Sr. 13.85, Charlie Bishop 14.22, Dave Jewett 14.76, Robert Waibel no time

Hot saw: Rick Halvorson 6.30 seconds, Harry Burnsworth 6.31, Gaston Duperre 6.38, Jim Taylor 6.52, Mike Sullivan 6.59, Jim Colbert 6.99, Warrick Hallett 7.50, Sheridan Doyle 8.00, Donald Lambert 8.28, Matt Bush 8.93