Line personnel from 10 Illinois electric cooperatives and one Illinois municipal utility gathered at the Chuck West Lineman’s Hot Line School training grounds at Lincoln Land Community College on Friday, Sept. 27 to exhibit their prowess at the 22nd Lineman’s Safety Rodeo, hosted by the Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives.
Prizes were awarded to the top finishers in each of five events and one team was named overall winner. Teams competed in the hurt man rescue, egg climb, H-structure obstacle course, crossarm challenge and a head-to-head climbing challenge. Individual participants and apprentices competed in all events except the crossarm challenge.
The EnerStar Electric Cooperative team of (l-r) Austin Swango, Russ Camp and Jake Keys won honors as the Best Overall team by placing first in the crossarm changeout and second in the egg climb. Additionally, Austin Swango received first place overall for an individual apprentice. The Corn Belt Energy Corporation team 2 of Grant Cooper, Jack Dodd and Austin Schindel placed second overall.
