It was the Wyandot County and Paulding County garages which produced the winners of this year’s Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) District One Truck and Loader Roadeo held May 20 and 21 in Lima.
The event was open to all equipment operators employed by ODOT District 1, headquartered in Lima, which includes the eight counties of Allen, Defiance, Hancock, Hardin, Paulding, Putnam, Van Wert and Wyandot.
Alan Taylor of Carey who works out of the Wyandot County ODOT garage won the loader event. It is the first win for Taylor at the district level. This is the second win in the truck event for Leon Goyings who is from Paulding and is stationed in the Paulding County garage. He won the truck event in 2001.
The roadeo pits highway workers from the district’s eight-county region against one another in a test of skill in maneuvering equipment through a series of obstacles. The obstacles are designed to mimic situations equipment operators might encounter on the job.
Operators also are required to perform a pretrip inspection where they must find five deliberately placed mechanical flaws on a truck and a loader. The pretrip inspection is a function that is performed by operators before they take equipment out on the job.
Each of the state’s 12 transportation districts holds individual roadeos. Taylor and Goyings, along with the second place finishers in both the loader and truck competitions, will compete against the winners in each of those transportation districts at a state competition held in the fall in Columbus.
Goyings completed the obstacle course in the fastest time of anyone in the finals. He felt his performance in the pretrip inspection could have kept him from winning.
“In the pretrip I didn’t feel I performed very well, but [I] felt I did perform well on the course,” said Goyings.
“I knew I had a good run on the loader,” said Taylor, who finished second in the loader competition last year. Taylor said the roadeo is very enjoyable to participate in, but it’s also useful in sharpening equipment skills.
“It’s not an easy job,” said Taylor of what equipment operators are asked to do in the course of their work. Both Taylor and Goyings agreed that the maneuvers they must perform in the roadeo are true to life.
“It makes you think things through,” said Goyings.
“Safety is at the heart of everything we do. The roadeo is just one way to increase the skills and awareness of our operators, which makes them safer on the job,” said Tim Burkepile, ODOT District 1 deputy director. “We have several new employees who took the opportunity to participate in this year’s event which provided them an additional opportunity to learn more about the operation of equipment,” he said.
Finishing behind Taylor in the loader competition were Frank Daley of Hancock County and Chris Miles of Defiance County. Daly finished second behind Goyings in the truck competition, while Lance Clifton of Van Wert County earned third place.
There was one winner from each of the participating counties in each event, each day. The next top three scores, considered wild cards, in each event over the two-day event also competed in the finals along with the county winners.
County Winners,
Wild Card Winners
Truck competition county winners:
• Dean Williamson, Putnam County
• Ryne Dangler, Paulding County
• Frank Daley, Hancock County
• Alan Taylor, Wyandot County
• Lance Clifton, Van Wert County
• Chris Miles, Defiance County
• Brad Adams, Allen County
Wild cards:
• Roger Pahl, Wyandot County
• Leon Goyings, Paulding County
• John Rinker, Hancock County
Loader competition county winners:
• Frank Daley, Hancock County
• Alan Taylor, Wyandot County
• Jeff Pohlman, Putnam County
• Ryne Dangler, Paulding County
• Andy Wita, Allen County
• Chris Miles, Defiance County
• Ken Simindinger, Van Wert County
Wild cards:
• John Rinker, Hancock County
• Dean Williamson, Putnam County
• Leon Goyings, Paulding County
Final Results
Truck competition:
• First place: Leon Goyings, Paulding County
• Second place: Frank Daley, Hancock County
• Third place: Lance Clifton, Van Wert County
Loader competition:
• First place: Alan Taylor, Wyandot County
• Second place: Frank Daley, Hancock County
• Third place: Chris Miles, Defiance County
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