Wednesday, July 4, 2018 5:50 am

Jimmy Grant was one of thirteen linemen representing MTEMC in the 2018 Tennessee Valley Lineman Rodeo. The team won a total of 18 awards, including the first place overall awards in the Individual Lineman and Apprentice categories.

Thirteen linemen from Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation participated in the 21st Annual Tennessee Valley Lineman Rodeo June 29-30 at Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro. The annual event draws teams from utilities across the Tennessee Valley to compete in a variety of events. The annual event drew more than 165 linemen from 35 utilities across multiple states, including Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee to compete in a variety of events.

Journeyman linemen Danny Crawford, Chris Gossett, Brad Kincaid and Nathan Neal from the Franklin office, Jimmy Grant from the Murfreesboro Office and B.J. Bobo and Bo Asbury from the Woodbury office and Rusty George from the Lebanon office were joined by apprentice linemen Bobby Buttrey and Jamie Hazelwood form the Franklin office, Jonathan Fitzpatrick, Chase Patterson and Marshall Lorance from the Murfreesboro office, representing MTEMC at the competition.

"Linemen work very hard every day, building and repairing lines, ensuring the overall reliability of the electrical grid in their service territories," said MTEMC President/CEO Chris Jones. "They are the unsung heroes who stand at the ready to respond to outages caused by storms, accidents or anything else that may knock out the power. They are the ones who, through their tireless efforts, help ensure the system reliability of member-owned, not-for-profit electric cooperatives."

The events linemen competed in are areas they have experience performing in day-to-day duties. The events this year included the Hurtman Rescue, A-6 Bell Change, Cutout Change, Skill Climb, B-1 Tie In, B-7 Insulator Change and Dead Lift.

Seven of MTEMC's linemen took home a total of eighteen awards in this year's rodeo.

Grant, Kincaid, Crawford, and Gossett placed first through fourth in the Individual Lineman Overall category respectively. Grant and Gossett placed first and third in the Cutout Change event with Grant also placing second in both the Skill Climb and Hurtman Rescue events.

MTEMC had one lineman in the senior category this year, which consists of linemen 45-years old and above. Bo Asbury placed second in the Senior Lineman Overall with second place finishes in B-7 Bell Change and Dead Lift. Asbury also received a third-place finish for Hurtman Rescue.

In the apprentice category, Fitzpatrick and Patterson placed first and third for the Apprentice Lineman Overall respectively. Fitzpatrick and Patterson placed first and third in the Dead Lift event. Fitzpatrick also finished with a first-place finish in the B-1 Tie In and a second place finish in the Hurtman Rescue event.

More information on the 2018 rodeo can be found at www.tnrodeo.com.

MTEMC linemen work hard in all types of weather, performing daily maintenance and also quickly responding to outages 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation is a member-owned, not-for-profit cooperative providing electricity to more than 220,000 residential and business members in Williamson, Wilson, Rutherford, and Cannon counties.