Ok, difficult to say everything in words but as you all know, neither myself or Thomas won, nor did we get to the final 5. In fact, we don't know where we placed, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a good day, I was actually surprised with how well organised it was, they had the challenges set out right in front of the barriers and that made for a good atmosphere.
I didn't encounter any big egos or bad attitude with any of the competitors, there was some good banter, plenty of laughs, and a general atmosphere of helping each other out which was nice.
First challenge was stacking lorry tyres round some 4" posts with a 14t and selector grab. Harder than it sounds against the clock, and with literally everyone watching you! The tyres had a habit of bouncing when you dropped them over the post and plenty of people made mistakes on this challenge.
Next up was a straight trench with an 8t Cat. The sand became so soft, keeping it tidy and level was a real challenge and it was easy to over dig. Again it was against the clock and the idea was to dig the most trench in the time.
Then it was a head to head challenge with a Takeuchi 225 and JCB electric 19c. Because the Tak was faster than the JCB it was decided you would swap machines and your overall time would be added up over the two machines. Think I was one of the only ones to beat the Tak with the JCB!
Last challenge was with a 14t JCBX and Rototilt, digging a "T" shaped trench. Personally the machine was set up horribly and I struggled to make it sing, didn't get my trench completed - probably my worst challenge but plenty of others struggling with this one too, especially if you hadn't driven a tiltrotator before.
The results from these 4 challenges then made a top 5 who had to go head to head loading an 8 wheeler with 10 tons in the fastest time.
As you might know, the winner was Dave Vickers who I didn't speak to all day but seemed a worthy winner. Runs a small plant firm, will make a big difference to him I'm sure.
Overall, a good day, the sponsors all had a tent each which made up a kind of village area, people had brought their families to cheer them on, I was pleased to have a couple of members from this forum cheering myself and Thomas on, much appreciated. The weather was excellent and it was a good day out. I took zero pictures - was too busy concentrating on not making a fool of myself, but here are a couple from the UKPO page. Including Tom being very happy with his goodie bag, me trying to work out what a T trench is with some fellow forum members who shall remain a mystery, and a general view of how it was set out. Think Tom might have got some better ones with his drone of the overall event?
