LINCOLN - Heidi Rankin seems to make it look easy smashing a six-pound sledgehammer into a log.

She has out-swung a few men by splitting a log into several pieces within 10 minutes.

And she is all of 142 pounds and 5 feet, 3 inches tall.

"Strength is not as importance as coordination and practice," said Rankin, who competes in the amateur division of railsplitting contests. "The key is to hit where you are looking and split a whole log in six pieces."

Rankin is one of the best of the few competitive women railsplitters.

She said she was introduced to railsplitting at 6 weeks old when her father, Bob Rankin, competed in railsplitting contests.

Her grandfather, Dean Tibbs, was one of the early festival organizers of the Lincoln Railsplitter Festival in Lincoln.

Once again, Rankin was back at it chopping a log during the amateur railsplitting contest Sept. 6 for the 38th Abraham Lincoln National Railsplitting Festival in Lincoln. She also competed in the women's firewood split and cross cuts saw competition.

The festival provides a family atmosphere, said Rankin, who after high school began entering more contests against men in the amateur division.

Of course, she said, it gets more competitive and you have to be stronger and sturdier in the professional division, where men only vie for cash prizes.

One requirement at the professional level is that a log has to be split into eight rails within four minutes. The fastest time wins.

For amateurs, six rails have to be split within 10 minutes.

"A lot of it is the luck of the draw," Rankin said. "If you get a straight log, not one that is stringy and where the grain is tight with splinters holding it together, makes it harder to break with the ax. And I have had my share of bad logs."

The hardest part of railsplitting is having endurance, Rankin added.

"Keeping at it with a six-pound sledgehammer continuously is the hardest part. I don't try to go fast and wear myself out. I just remain patient and keep at a pace."

The 29-year-old Rankin, a special education teacher at Hinchcliffe Elementary School in O'Fallon, tries to stay in physical shape by working out from time to time.

Her father, Bob Rankin, never misses an opportunity when it comes to watching his daughter splitting those rails.

He remembers her growing up as a little tomboy and trying to compete with boys in railsplitting events.

"I would always make sure she had the right tools and hammer that were the right size," he said, and never worried about her getting injured.

His own father, Dean Tibbs, grew up in the Depression era and was one of the founders of the Abraham Lincoln Railsplitting Festival. The group named the festival after Abraham Lincoln being known as the "railsplitter candidate" when he ran for president.

Lincoln also christened the town of Lincoln with the juice of a watermelon, Bob Rankin boasted.

And his mother, Gwen Tibbs, remains very active and is the treasurer of the railsplitter organization.

After years of mastering the skills of railsplitting, Heidi Rankin has been trying to get other women involved. One problem is getting a sponsor for a women's division to compete at a professional level, she said.

Railsplitting competitions mostly take place in states such as Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky.

"It's kind of a double-edge sword because if you have a women's division competing professionally, then you can't compete in the amateur division based on the Railsplitting Association rules," Heidi Rankin said, and it would be hard trying to organize and pique the interest of women in other states.

John Sutton, chairman of the railsplitting festival in Lincoln, said the idea behind the festival is to introduce people to railsplitting and take people back to the days of the mid-1800s when crafts such as weaving, making apple butter and corn shucking were common.

The highlight of the festival builds around the railsplitting events and how competitors are judged on time and quality on the way rails are split.

As for Heidi Rankin, Sutton said, "She is awesome and can hold her own in whipping some men."

sheilas@herald-review.com|421-7963