The latest was a win at the Royal Melbourne Show from September 24 to October 4 as part of the New Zealand under-21 wood-chopping team. Pako is one of the youngest to have made the team.
Competing against Australians, Welshmen and other New Zealanders, he won the underhand handicap competition, came second in the "combo chop" team event with Jesse Whitehead, of Waiuku, third in the novice standing, fourth in the 300mm underhand handicap and sixth in the 300mm novice underhand handicap.
"I actually came first in that [the 300mm novice underhand handicap] but they disqualified me 'cause I had won [open competitions] in New Zealand," he said.
He took home $1600 in prize money.
It was the Australians, however, who claimed the test title after a three-match competition between New Zealand and Australia.
Pako said "it was hard over there" because the wood that was used, such as mountain ash, a kind of eucalypt, was different from the radiata or poplar he uses here.
Each different kind of wood needs a different axe, which can cost "$600 to $700", coach Denis McLaughlin, said.
McLaughlin, a national and Australasian champion said Pako had "advanced very well ... he's done very well for his age".
Pako got into the sport after attending a cattle breeders show in Karamea when he was 12.
"It was being demonstrated and Dad said 'oh, do you want to have a go' and I said 'oh, all right'."
Since then he has won many competitions, including the South Island under-21 championship in Hokitika earlier this year.
Also "about seven or eight opens, a lot of junior and restricted [novice] underhands".
His specialty is the underhand chop which involves standing on the log or block of wood. He said it usually took him 20 to 30 seconds to chop through in this style.
He also competes in the standing chop which involves chopping through a block that is mounted on a "dummy" while standing on the ground.
"That one takes a bit longer ... about 40 seconds."
He said he tried to train every day by chopping two to four blocks but was having trouble finding a constant source of wood around his Cromwell home.
He said his next stop would be a competition in Leeston next week and then had other competitions "almost every week" throughout summer.
His ultimate aim is to "head to England and take it as far as I can ... it's a big thing over there, and in North America and Australia."
