Josephine Hedger from Sway wins fifth World Tree Climbing Championship

SWAY'S Josephine Hedger has added a fifth World Tree Climbing Championship title to her collection after triumphing in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Hedger, who works in the New Forest with her company Arbor Venture Tree Care, came out on top against 32 other competitors, first winning the preliminaries before grabbing the masters title.

The world champion grew up in Highcliffe and recently won her sixth European Tree Climbing Championship in Belgium.

To win, an individual competes in five preliminary events, with entrants judged on speed, skill and technique.

The accumulation of points then puts the top women and men into the masters climb on the second day. This event allows the climbers to demonstrate how they read the tree and move around the canopy to get the marked targets within a specific time, with the climber with the highest score winning.

There is also a separate event in which competitors compete in a head-to-head fastest vertical ascent to 15m.

After the event, Hedger said: "I have worked hard over the last few weeks with preparations for the world competition, and I am so proud to achieve my fifth world title and elated to share it with so many wonderful climbers from all over the world.

"It's an honour for me to climb for the United Kingdom and Ireland chapter on the world stage."

The competition simulates the working conditions of arborists in the field.