Wayne Borellini and daughter Nichola win Australian Hand Cane Cutting Championships

A Queensland father-daughter duo are keeping the hand cane cutting legacy alive, winning multiple national championships.

Cane cutter Wayne Borrellini.

A Whitsundays farmer is proving that age is no match for experience when it comes to hand cane cutting, and he’s taking his family along for the ride.

Competing in the over 55s division at the Australian Hand Cane Cutting Championships, Wayne Borellini clinched the top spot and carved out a fourth-place overall finish where he held his own against a field of younger competitors.

“I beat half them young fellas,” he said

“I’m pretty satisfied with that.”

Wayne Borellini on the day of his big win. Photo: Contributed

The seasoned Proserpine farmer and builder said coming from a farming family he had been cutting cane for his father since the age of 15, but this event was a tough slog, especially going in with little training.

“I got there in the end,” he said.

“I survived.”

Add to that a variation in cane density and the day only became more challenging.

Wayne Borellini comes from a farming family so often hand cut cane for his dad after school.

“That’s the luck of the draw, the way it is, you just have to go harder.”

While the win was sweet, the real highlight for Mr Borellini was seeing his daughter Nichola take out first place in the ladies novice competition.

“I was proud of her to get in there and have a crack,” he said.

“She blew them away.

“She beat ten people so that was all right.”

Nichola Borellini took out the win in her category, just like her father. Photo: Contributed

Mr Borellini said his father taught him the art of cane cutting and he wanted to pass that on to his daughter, but he said it all came pretty naturally to her.

“She’s fit, a bit of a gardener, just naturally fit, like the old man” he said.

“She might carry it on.”

She already has her eyes on the next competition and she’s gunning for a spot beside the boys.

As for whether she would continue on the family’s cane farming legacy, Mr Borellini said all of his children were carving their own paths and only time would tell.

Wayne said the family will be back to compete in two years time.

Mr Borellini and his wife Gina celebrated their wedding anniversary at the event and he said she might even get involved in the next competition.

He said it was hard to find the time to get to events like this but it was always worthwhile.

“I’m 60, if I don’t do it now I’ll never get there,” he said.

“So I made the effort to get up there and have a crack.”

He admitted the competition took it out of him but said he had plenty of time to train for the next one in two years time.

Originally published as Wayne Borellini and daughter Nichola win Australian Hand Cane Cutting Championships