Jason Wynyard (14 November 1973 – 4 October 2023) was a New Zealand champion woodchopper from Kawakawa. He won over a hundred world titles in the sport, including the individual world championship nine times. He holds the world record for single buck (with assistant) with a time of 9.39 seconds in 2007. Wynyard won the Stihl Timbersports Series 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, Wynyard was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the sport of woodchopping.

Personal life and death

Wynyard was born in Te Awamutu on 14 November 1973. Of Māori ancestry, he affiliated to the Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāpuhi iwi. He was educated at Waitākere College. Wynyard was the father of former University of Kentucky 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 New Zealand Breakers of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL). He began his career playing in his home country for the ...

. In May 2023, it was announced that Wynyard had been diagnosed with stage 4 Burkitt lymphoma, 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 Sportspeople 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 lymphoma in New Zealand {{NewZealand-sport-bio-stub