The Ohio Department of Transportation held its annual truck and loader roadeo Wednesday. The event displayed colorful and creative plow blade designs from area schools that participated in Paint the Plow contest.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
LIMA — An Ohio Department of Transportation employee from Hardin County proved to have the best loader skills in the area, while a Hancock County employee had the finest truck skills in the annual District 1 truck and loader roadeo, held Wednesday.
The annual competition began in 1988 in each of Ohio’s 12 districts. Contestants are scored on inspection and operator skills.
“The roadeo is a chance for our operators to demonstrate their expertise in heavy equipment operation,” said Chris Hughes, deputy director of ODOT District 1, said in a press release. “Each obstacle is carefully designed to simulate the challenges they face on the job, and we’re proud to recognize their achievements.”
In the loader competition, Austin Garman, of Hardin County, won with 2,075 points out of a possible 2,300 points, followed by Hancock County’s John Rinker and Wyatt Price.
In the truck competition, Hancock County’s Rinker had 2,055 out of 2,300 points, followed by Hardin County’s Spencer Wall and Allen County’s Nate Greenwood.
The two winners in each event will represent District 1 at a statewide event in Columbus in August.
The Allen County maintenance garage was named the team champion of the roadeo.
The event also showed off the 26 plows painted by area schools. People can vote on their favorite plows on ODOT District 1’s social media accounts, Facebook.com/ODOTDistrict1, Instagram/odot_nwohio/ and Twitter.com/ODOT_NWOhio, between May 10 and May 19, with winners announced the week of May 20.
