----4/9/2010----

OMAHA - Lincoln Electric System (LES) line technicians finished in the top five at the Public Power Lineworkers Rodeo, a national competition of the American Public Power Association held March 27 in Omaha, said Dan Pudenz, LES vice president, Energy Delivery.

LES sent two teams of three persons each to compete in the team competition and five apprentice line technicians to compete individually in the apprentice division.

One LES team had a perfect score in the competitions, along with four other teams from Turlock, Calif., Sacramento, Calif., Kissimmee, Fla., and Memphis, Tenn. The top five teams were separated only by the time it took the competitors to complete their events, with the LES team finishing fifth, he said.

Awards earned by the LES line techs were as follows:

• Erik Mastny, apprentice, first place in hurtman rescue, and third place in service event.
• Wesley Gyhra, Rick Hasenpflug and Andrew Rolf, journeymen, second place in hurtman rescue and fifth place overall.

"LES line techs finishing with a perfect score and high in this national competition speaks to how hard they prepared for the competition, and most importantly how safely and efficiently they perform their work," Pudenz said. "We are rightfully proud of this hard-working team, and they are a reminder that all our line techs day-in and day-out put their lives on the line to maintain service to our customers in all kinds of weather conditions."

The competitors included 40 journeyman line techs and 50 apprentices. The journeyman line techs competed in events including changing out switches, lightning arrestors, oil circuit re-closers, and repaired a downed line and simulated the rescue of a hurt line technician suspended on a pole.

Apprentices took part in hooking up and energizing a transformer, hanging a service line between a weatherhead and a pole, constructing a double dead end, taking a written safety test and hurtman rescue.