The competition has grown greatly since its launch in 2017. That year saw 22 linemen compete and raise $24,800. “Our goal was to make $10,000 that first year,” says Craig Moeller, Missouri Electric Cooperatives’ director of field training services and also the leader of the Missouri International Program. “It’s grown into about $30,000 to $35,000 each year. We’ve also added two teams and about 10 competitors each year.”
Safety trumps speed during the competition, Craig adds. “It’s really subliminal training,” he says. “The guys come here and do the safety aspects of their jobs and have fun doing it. Safety is paramount in how we set up the events. They lose points if they don’t follow the rules. Time is only used as a tiebreaker.”
The two-day competition starts with a written knowledge test for apprentice linemen. Once they answer the 100 questions, they join the journeyman lineworkers at the training school located at the association’s Jefferson City headquarters. Here the competition is fierce as they climb poles, work from the ground using extendo sticks or jockey a 5-gallon bucket filled with cement around an obstacle course using a digger derrick truck.
“It’s a little more relaxed when you are in the field,” says Cuivre River Electric Cooperative journeyman lineman Mike Hartley. “It isn’t quite as big of a competition. You’re always giving someone a little bit of trouble to do it quicker or something like that, but it’s just friendly competition in the real world. But here it gets kind of serious. You try to do it as fast and as safe as you can.”
When the dust finally settled and the scores were tallied, Ozark Electric Cooperative took home the team trophy and the Governor’s Cup — presented since 2019 at the request of Gov. Mike Parson — with their team comprised of Jacob Ray, Isaac Spain and Seth Fortner. Ozark’s Clint Deatherage also won the journeyman division with a remarkable score of 493 out of 500 possible points. That was five points and 6 minutes better than second place Mike Hartley.
“He had a clean sweep in every event,” Craig says. “First place, best score, best time in all of the journeyman events. He was unreal.”
Cuivre River Electric’s John Sullivan won the apprentice division, edging his teammate Enoch Brown.
“Our guys had heard about the excitement, and I wanted them to come up here and see what it was all about,” says Barton County Electric Cooperative Manager Jeff Hull, whose linemen entered the rodeo for the first time this year. “The excitement they anticipated was definitely met and even exceeded in some areas. It’s just a good thing for everyone to come together and do the things they otherwise wouldn’t get to do together. This brotherhood is a good thing and will foster more involvement in the International Program.”
Barton County’s team included Clayton Buzzard, a member of the second group headed to Guatemala. Other team members taking part in the rodeo were Isaac Spain from Ozark Electric, Clay Nolte from Boone Electric, Alex Buschjost from Three Rivers Electric and Steve Martin from White River Valley Electric.
For Cody Coulter, a third-year apprentice lineman from Three Rivers Electric Cooperative, the toughest event was the Hurt-Man Rescue. This is one skill linemen prepare for but hope they never have to use. It involves climbing the pole, rescuing a 150-pound mannequin from the top, then safely lowering it to the ground.
“We hope we never have to do it. But we want to make sure we are at the top of our game if we need it,” Cody says. “It’s definitely challenging trying to get all that weight off the pole in a safe manner. You have to make sure you don’t drop it, or of course, get hurt doing it.”
For Mike, the biggest challenge came from a pair of events he said take the linemen out of their comfort zone. One is the Digger Derrick Obstacle Course which requires them to operate the truck using a remote control. “The digger kind of got me a little bit,” the Cuivre River lineman says. “We do that quite a bit but we don’t use a remote. It’s something kind of different but you figure it out.”
Then there is the Excavator Skills Course event, which required the operator to pick up a tennis ball and a ring and drop them into a bucket or over a post. “The excavator has been pretty tough on everyone,” Mike says. “Those two events are kind of the overlooked things.”
Beyond raising funds and showing off their skills, the rodeo gives the linemen a chance to get to know each other. This pays dividends during major storms where crews from different co-ops might be working closely together to restore power. That was the case immediately after the Lineman’s Rodeo ended, when many of those competing went from the rodeo grounds to Georgia where they were part of an army of co-op linemen repairing damage caused by Hurricane Helene.
Missouri’s electric cooperatives sent more than 360 linemen in two waves to the hurricane zone where they put their skills to work in the real world. “This Missouri group, they are a phenomenal bunch of linemen,” says Craig, who traveled to Georgia with the first group of linemen. “They’re a hardworking bunch of country boys who come down here and get the job done. And every co-op we went to loves our guys and wants them to stick around.”
Judging by the skills shown off at the Lineman’s Rodeo and the comments of those they went to help, today’s generation of lineworkers are taking the job to another level. “One thing I’ve heard from managers and operations managers is these guys are coming in on their own time on weekends and after hours to do some practicing to ensure they do good at the rodeo,” Craig says. “They are using their own time to do things to improve their skills. And that is showing up in the real world.”