Volvo Operators Club reaches new milestones at Plantworx 2015
Volvo Construction Equipment hosted British heats of the Operators Club challenge at Plantworx 2015 and welcomed over 600 new members to the club across the three days
During the three days of Plantworx, which took place from 2-4 June, Volvo Construction Equipment held the British heats of the Operators Club. There were three challenges to be completed and the combined time for all three challenges was taken with the winner and runner-up earning a place in the European finals taking place in Italy.
The first challenge was ‘Labyrinth’ and those taking part had to guide a bobbin that was connected to the machine with a piece of elastic through a table-top course. The second challenge ‘Breeze Blocker’ challenged operators to stack three breeze blocks on top of each other using a one-tooth bucket attachment. The third challenge took part on a simulator and operators had to load a dumptruck with as much material as possible in three minutes.
The Operators Club challenge started early on day one with several members, both new and old, taking part. The first ever female challenger Aimee Pooley also took part, another milestone for the club.
At the end of day one Rick Eyre was in first place, James Covell was second and James Brown placed third. The competition was very close at the top with only seven seconds difference between the three.
On day two, member number 2,000 was welcomed to the Operators Club. This was a huge milestone to reach in the two-year history of the club and the 2,000th member Morris Herberts of Fox Plant was presented with a Volvo jacket along with his Operators Club cap by managing director, Nick Allen.
The competition was just as fierce on day two and by the end of the day there were three new members at the top of the leaderboard: Nigel McCann, Adam Howarth and Matt Jackson. Nigel was 10 seconds ahead of everyone else and it was unsure going into day three if anyone could overtake him.
The top three remained in their places for most of the third day until Phillip Port, who made it through to the European finals in 2013 and 2014 came along and took second place from Adam. The final results at the end of the three days were as follows:
- Nigel McCann: 01:11
- Phillip Port: 01.15
- Adam Howarth: 01.21
Across the three days 101 members took part in the challenge. Nigel and Phillip will now travel to Italy in October to take part in the European Finals and take on the 2014 champion Ermes Gemo.
For more information on the Operators Club or to join please visit: www.volvoceoperatorsclub.co.uk
