Caterpillar Operator Challenge Finals 2008

How does it feel for the new entrants? How are they doing after 2 days of competition?:

Because of limited time we chose to follow the stories of two teams with first-timers:

• Latvia
• UK

The Latvian team realized they had forgotten a Latvian flag, and especially because it is the 90′th year of Latvian independence, this was a serious problem. They quickly fixed it at the airport on arrival, where they bought a replacement. This has meant that the Latvian flag has been waving proudly this week whenever Juris has had his opportunity on the Caterpillar machines.

Juris is, according to the team manager Roberts Sneiders (Dealer Instructor), a master on anything small:

“Our boy has great hands. He hasn’t been an operator very long, but he has the best hands I’ve ever seen“.

We asked, “Can he win?“.

He smiled as he said, “No comment. I don’t like to guess“.

With an answer like that it sounds like he would be an excellent instructor.

Amazingly, only four years ago Juris used to be a good quality cook at a restaurant before making the change. Not surprisingly, he probably still cooks a great steak, but has never operated any of the large machines on display here in the tests where hundreds of tons of material are being shifted in short minutes.

How would he go? Thanks to the support of his Dealer he was taken through basic training on all available machines to give him an idea of what to expect.

His supporters (including his girlfriend and parents) are all visibly more nervous than their confident Operator. A quick question to Elina Avota and Laura Jekabsone, of SIA Wiktraktor, part of that team here for support:

“What would you like to tell people out there?“

The answer? “Come to Latvia! Great people, great food, great countryside” ..and apparently great operators. Juris is doing well in the competition, and probably doesn’t mind if he can’t make a cake like he used to…

Here’s the action in video from Day 2, featuring the Latvian team: