Gas Rodeo competitors from IBEW 1245
Two teams from IBEW 1245/PG&E participated in this year’s Gas Rodeo in Colorado Springs. The two-man team from San Francisco and the four-man team from Merced participated in four separate events: build a meter set from parts in a bucket; cut a six inch pipe with four wheel cutters; tap and run a service 50 feet and install a meter sweep; and hand dig a pit.
The four-man team from Merced competing at the 2014 Gas Rodeo
This was the second year IBEW 1245 members participated in this rodeo, and the competitors showed marked improvement in their individual events. Unfortunately, the two IBEW 1245 teams still placed in the lower tier, with the two-man team from San Francisco placing 17th out of 21 teams and the four-man team from Merced placing 22nd out of 30 teams.
“In order to compete on the same level as the other teams we need to practice together as a team, often, and we need to get all of the tricks allowed, especially the specialty tools that teams made and brought,” said IBEW 1245 Business Rep Lou Mennel. “We also need to develop a real competition within PG&E for a chance to compete in the national event, and start working on this as a team at least 6 months prior. The Merced team only had a few months. The San Francisco team only had a few weeks. I look forward to doing better next year and many years to come.”
The team members from San Francisco:
- Junior Umaleava
- Marcus Pineda
- Ramon Juarez
The team members from Merced:
- Beau Daneli
- Doug Lopes
- Tommy Victor
- Mike Shepard
- Jose Olivares