MTEMC linemen compete

Eleven linemen from Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation participated in the 2016 Tennessee Valley Lineman Rodeo June 10-11 in Paris Landing, Tenn. The annual event draws teams from utilities across the Tennessee Valley to compete in a variety of events.

This year, Bobby Buttrey, Danny Crawford, Chris Gossett, James Hazelwood, Brad Kincaid, Nathan Neal, Rusty George, Jeff pulley, Jonathan Fitzpatrick, Jimmy Grant and B.J. Bobo represented MTEMC in four categories; apprentice, team, journeyman and senior.

"Linemen work very hard every day, building and repairing lines, ensuring the overall reliability of the electrical grid," said MTEMC President Chris Jones. "They 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 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. Jumper replacement, phase swap, transformer change, and Hurtman rescue are just a few of the timed events teams and individuals competed in this year.

Team MTEMC brought home 10 awards including a first individual journeyman overall win by Danny Crawford.

In the lineman events, Team MTEMC brought home the following awards:

Danny Crawford - 1st Individual Journeyman Overall, 2nd Fuse Replacement, 2nd Dual Voltage Transformer Change out, 3rd Transformer Arrestor Change out

Nathan Neal - 2nd Transformer Arrestor Change out

Chris Gossett - 2nd Hurtman Rescue

In the apprentice events, Team MTEMC brought home the following awards:

Brad Kincaid - 1st Pole Top Pin Insulator Change out

Jimmy Grant - 2nd Hurtman Rescue

Jonathan Fitzpatrick - 3rd Hurtman Rescue, 3rd Pole Top Pin Insulator Change out

More information on the 2016 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 210,000 residential and business members in Williamson, Wilson, Rutherford and Cannon counties.