After a two-year hiatus, national and state lineworker rodeos are back, and Electric Department employees hit the rodeo trail this spring! Rodeos help lineworkers fine-tune their skills and safety practices.  

NCAMES Rodeo 
Our GUC team competed at the 23rd Annual NCAMES (North Carolina Association of Municipal Electric Systems) Conference and Lineman's Rodeo in Shelby, NC, on May 19th. Public power teams from around the state competed in events that test their knowledge and ability to perform tasks safely and quickly.  

Rodeos involve events for Apprentices (less than four years of experience) and Journeymen (more than four years). GUC's Journeyman team included Underground Lineworkers Steven Briley, Lin Bunting, and Brian Baker, as well as Overhead Lineworker David Guy.

Competing in the Apprentice division were Overhead Lineworkers Oscar Meeks, CJ Forrest, Cole Hartley, Bobby Lewis, and Tucker Foell along with Underground Lineworker Stanley Roberson. Overhead Crew Leader II Mike Ashley was the Journeyman team coach, while Underground Maintenance Crew Leader II Mike McGowan served as the Apprentice team coach. 

Our team performed well this year! In the Apprentice competitions, Oscar brought home the Overall Apprentice third place trophy by placing first in the Double Dead-End Change-Out and first in the Hurt Man Rescue. CJ placed fourth in the Fuse Change-Out, and Cole placed fifth in the Hurt Man Rescue.  

In the Journeyman Division, David came in first place Overall by placing third in the Arrestor Change-Out, fifth in the Obstacle Course, and first in the Cutout Change-Out. Steven placed second in Cutout Change-Out and fifth in Arrestor Change-Out. Lin placed third Overall and third in the Cutout Change-Out. 

Special thanks to Underground Electric Distribution Supervisor Ryan Hardee and Overhead Service Crew Leader Keith Stancil for serving as event judges. Ryan served as the head judge. Thank you also to Control Room Operator I Cathy McGowan for taking photos of our team at this event. 

APPA Rodeo 
Employees from the Electric Department also represented Greenville Utilities at the APPA Lineworker's Rodeo in Austin, Texas, March 25-26. Public power teams from around the country competed in a series of competitive events demonstrating the safe work practices that lineworkers use in their jobs every day. 

David, Steven, Brian, and Lin competed on the GUC Journeyman team while Bobby, Cole, and Overhead Lineworker Jeffrey Rouse competed as Apprentices. The Apprentice group took a written test before both groups headed to the competition field, where all the events involved installations and other tasks on a 40-foot utility pole. 

Our Journeyman team placed 16th Overall out of 55 teams from across the U.S. 

Congratulations to our teams on a job well done in both challenging rodeos, which were the first rodeo competitions for all of our Apprentices!