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Hawkes Bay linemen best in the country

Published on October 22^nd 2009, 10:07am

Team manager Ray Williams said the young team of four gave 150 percent at the three-day competition to bring home the cup and prove themselves the best team of line mechanics in the country.

“They were fantastic, no manager could ask for better,” he said.

Team members Jimmy Cudd, George Jonathan and Carl Cotter (all trained line mechanics) and trainee James Murphy went “back to basics” to win the event.

“They got into the spirit of the competition, doing everything the hard way by hand – just like the old school linesmen. The team camaraderie was outstanding and the crowd was really behind them,” Mr Williams said.

Designed to test the competitors’ ability to follow safe and efficient work practices, teams competed in nine events including pole and earth bank installations, identifying cable faults, operating a crane and rescuing a mannequin from the top of an 11-metre pole in two minutes.

The final required the top three teams to build an overhead distribution line and install and connect an underground distribution service in just four hours.

The Northpower Hawkes Bay team came in to win with just one and a half minutes to spare.

“We went there with the aim of being one of the top three finalists. But we really blitzed them. The boys were really stoked,” Mr Williams said.

Northpower Whangarei was runner-up. Third place went to Tenix Alliance from Wanganui.

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