Watch this video of Operators Liam & Tom as they battle their way through The Volvo Operators Club Final..
As a few already know Volvo Construction Equipment and the Volvo Operators Club hold an annual competition to find the best plant and equipment operators in the world, this event sees operators from all four corners of the world compete head to head in a multitude of different disciplines and various machines including mini excavators and loading shovels to wheeled and tracked heavy excavators,
This year the UK were represented by plant operators Liam Lambert and Tom Pedson both time served plant operators headed to France along with 18 semi-finalists from 10 countries across the EMEA region – Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom in a gruelling final full of challenges specially thought to test the skills of the toughest operators, after qualifying at the HILLHEAD event last year Both Liam and Tom started off the competition ranking quite high.
Both performed well in the first round with Tom finishing fourth overall and Liam in fifth.
Then the operators used a Volvo L30G compact wheel loader to stack three metal crates without disturbing the tennis balls on top of the cones inside them or in the surrounding area. Liam performed well in this round and qualified for the semi-final but a knock from Tom ended his competition in a scattering of tennis balls. Next the operators were tasked with manouvering a metal guide, attached to the arm of a Volvo EC220E excavator, through a wooden maze without touching the sides. Liam managed a quick time but unfortunately hit the sides on a number of occassions incuring too many time penalties to qualify for the grand final.
