The annual competition brings together linemen from around the globe to compete in events based on real-life industry scenarios, including speed climbs, pole rescues and mystery challenges revealed on the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just about competing. It\u2019s a celebration of the industry and a coming together of the people that work in it,\u201d Marinus told Hawke\u2019s Bay Today.<\/p>\n
Now in its fifth year, the Hawke\u2019s Bay company has been involved in the New Zealand version of the event through sponsorship, judging and team entries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea grew from there,\u201d Marinus said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd about three years ago, I decided to go to Kansas to visit the International Lineman\u2019s Rodeo, just to have a look and to see what it was all about. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then, we came up with the idea: how cool would it be to enter a team from New Zealand?\u201d<\/p>\n
The four-person team heading to America includes Marinus and lineman Pomare Samupo as climbers, Zane Berge as a groundman, and Powerlines Hawke\u2019s Bay co-owner Haden Anderson as the team manager.<\/p>\n
The crew trains three times a week after work, focusing on learning new techniques.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way we do our work here in New Zealand is a little bit different to the way that it gets done in America,\u201d Marinus said.<\/p>\n
In New Zealand, line workers mostly climb poles using ladders, while American crews commonly use climbing hooks strapped to their boots.<\/p>\n
Marinus said this first trip was less about winning and more about gaining experience and opening doors for the industry back home.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re playing these guys at their own game, and for us, we\u2019re learning how to play their game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jimmy Marinus, left, and Pomare Samupo. The team trains three times a week, adapting to different methods used in the US.<\/p>\n
He said the event was also an opportunity to improve techniques, including how to work more efficiently while maintaining safety standards on the job.<\/p>\n
Marinus said linemen regularly faced dangerous conditions, especially during storms and major events such as Cyclone Gabrielle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen there\u2019s bad weather, when there\u2019s high winds, when it\u2019s raining, we\u2019re fixing the lines that have potentially been taken down by a tree, which adds extra elements to the job,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then we haven\u2019t even started talking about the hazards of electricity. So, our job has a lot of different hazards … It brings lots of challenges, but we\u2019re pretty well trained.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trip to Kansas comes with high costs, including travel, time away and reduced production while one of the company\u2019s two crews is overseas.<\/p>\n
Marinus said the opportunity would not have been possible without sponsors Wagners CFT, Mita Consulting, and Powerlines Hawke\u2019s Bay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The annual competition brings together linemen from around the globe to compete in events based on real-life industry…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1561,1976,33443,78,1019,34021,15220,223536,111,43,139,69,90,131151,223,61,810,4478],"class_list":["post-436946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-bay","tag-hawkes","tag-heading","tag-in","tag-international","tag-kansas","tag-line","tag-linemans","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-rodeo","tag-the","tag-to","tag-up","tag-workers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}