Operators Club Final 2017
On Saturday, 21 October, Volvo CE pitted 29 of Europe’s finest operators against each other in the epic battle of speed, precision and technique that is the Operators Club Final. After a year of gruelling local heats, the event saw finalists from 15 countries across Europe – Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine – come face to face in the Volvo Ocean Race village in the port of Alicante, Spain, 24 hours before the start of the 2017-2018 race. Johannes Unger from Austria has claimed the title of ‘Europe’s best operator’ for the second time in the Operators
Club Final. The SMT GB finalists, who won their place in the final at Hillhead 2016, were Ryan Sadler and Russell Holden. For the first challenge, the operators had to pick up three basketballs from a rack and drop them into containers
using a Volvo L25F compact wheel loader fitted with a pallet fork attachment. For the second challenge, the competitors had to drop three metal balls into pipes of differing lengths using a Volvo ECR35D compact excavator and catch them again in the machine’s bucket. Both tasks were performed to time with penalties added for mistakes. The operators with the ten quickest times took part in a grand final. This was similar to the first challenge, except the competitors had three minutes to move as many basketballs as they could, with different numbers of points available from each of the three containers.
Round 1
With neither of the GB finalists being familiar with the L25F, the first task proved challenging. Ryan was up first and completed round one in a time of 1.49 but unfortunately dropped two balls incurring 2 minutes of time penalties, so finished with an overall time of 3.49. Russell dropped all three balls in this tricky challenge and finished with a time of 6.36.
Round 2
Russell was first up in this challenge and performed extremely well on this more familiar machine and finished in a time of 01.56. Ryan incurred a few time penalties at the start of this second round but still finished in a good time of 02.37.
Round 3
Russell performed well again in the repeat of round 2 but did suffer a time penalty - he finished in a time of 02.03. Ryan was on fire for his second attempt and finished in a joint second top time of 0.55. At the end of the three rounds Russell finished in 21st place and Ryan in 7th, securing a place in the final.
The Final
The final challenge was another tough round in the L25F. First to try was Denmark who was disqualified when one of the baskets toppled. Next up was Poland who scored 5 points and Georgia who scored 6 points. Ryan took part next and scored 9 points. Johannes Unger from Austria secured the top spot on the winner’s podium by scoring an impressive 30 points. He was followed by Sascha Moog from Germany and Ueli Hunziker from Switzerland, who scored 25 and 22 points respectively. Overall Ryan finished in joint sixth place. "It was so dramatic and what a final! I must say it was the best final I have seen so far. It was so close, so exciting and people around were cheering – amazing!" said fellow referee Karl Serneberg, Director of Marketing, region EMEA. "Each of the 29 that came here could be proud of themselves. First of all, they are champions in their own countries just to get to the final. That is an accomplishment on its own. Then they really showed us what good operators they are during the actual day."
A growing Network
The Operators Club was first established in Germany in 1998 and was launched in GB at Plantworx 2013. Today, the SMT GB Operators Club has more than 4,000 members and is growing continuously. Each of the 16 Operators Club world branches, with 27,000 members combined, run their own events throughout
the year, allowing operators to practice their skills in a safe environment and share experiences with their peers. Networking opportunities are also available through local Operators Club portals and social media groups.
ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS OVERLEAF a THE VOICE MAGAZINE No32 2018 39
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