Caterpillar Operator Challenge Finals 2008

Sunday: “We made it harder than last year..” November 4, 2008

The Challengers, Supporters and Press filled the Malaga auditorium to hear what this year’s changes were all about. What machines they would be operating, and what the conditions would be.

Hearing all the complaints that the events from last year were too easy, the management of the event, led by Malcolm High, (Equipment Solutions Manager) said this: “We heard you loud and clear, and this year we are back to eight tests, with a team event on the last day for the first time”. And as we later saw with some of the tests, he was not joking about making it harder..

The walk around by Emmanuel “Skinny” Chatelain took us to the sites where the Test Managers demonstrated each of the tests. This was the first time real concentration showed on the faces of all competitors. Why? Because nobody (that I have yet spoken to) specialises in all machines and they each wanted to know whether they could do it. They were asking: “What are my weaknesses, the blind spots”? There is always something that an Operator is not familiar with. Does he operate a small Multi Terrain Loader with the precision of a watchmaker, but has never even seen one of the Wheel Loader Giants? Does he grade a road to perfection with an M Series Motor Grader, but has not operated in the confined space between buildings with a Mini Excavator? There is a Cat machine, technology and Service for hundreds of jobs, but maybe not time enough in a lifetime to master them all. So they and their Dealer Team Managers all asked the same questions: Is there something I can’t do?

Nigel Pritchard, challenging for the Finning, UK, dealership, let me know his worries about having never used the amazing Cat joystick-controlled M series Graders. He was hoping to get enough time on the simulator to smooth over any possible difficulties he’d have if we unleashed a Grader on the competition (as it turns out – we did!). Roberts Sneiders, representing Wiktraktor SIA, Latvia, as a Dealer Trainer, talked about “our boy” Juris Step’s amazing natural ability on anything small, but admitted that this would be his first try on anything large.

The faces of concentration - Cat Operator Challenge 2008 test run

We’ll see more about this as the week progresses, as the other contestants try to find a way to break the hold that the PON Netherlands group have had on this competition for years. How to outpoint Peter Van Schaik and his colleagues was a question nobody seemed to have an answer to.. The Dutch team’s focus is amazing. Talking to them you get the feeling of serious competitors who are here purely to take home the trophy once again. They want to do it fairly and honestly, but winning is their game.

48 competitors, 22 proud nations, 1 trophy. Here they all are:

CAT Operator Challenge Finals - the Countries, the Competitors, and their Dealers

At each test the Test Manager was waiting to give the demonstration. The tests were so hard, and the conditions so slippery, that even the Test Managers got points deductions for hitting obstacles, and missing targets! During the Multi Terrain Loader test I saw a look of pain on some of the Operators’ faces as they saw what they were going to have to do.

It was a mud bowl after Saturday’s rain. Add this to the tests being made even harder this year than last year, and it looks like just finishing without mistakes will be the biggest test for all competitors. Speed will definitely only be an added extra until it’s drier.