Employees from Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) District 1 garages in Wyandot and Hancock counties were named winners in the ODOT District 1 truck and loader roadeo held Tuesday, May 24, in Lima.
Dylan Neff, who works as a highway technician in the Wyandot County garage, won the truck competition with a score of 2025 points. In second place, Austin Garman of the Hardin County garage scored 2015 points in the truck competition. Third place goes to Bryce Clark of the Allen County garage, also with 2015 points. Garman’s run time was faster than Clark’s, which broke the tie and placed him in second place alone.
From the Hancock County garage, Adam Brodman won the loader competition with a score of 2040 points. Tom Mellinger of the Hancock County garage came in second place, scoring 2185 points. In third place, Dylan Schimmoeller of the Allen County garage scored 2180 points.
The Hancock County garage won the district team award, which is given to the garage that finished with the top-two combined scores in both the truck and loader competition.
Neff, Garman, Brodman, and Mellinger will advance to the statewide Director’s Cup event, which will be held in Columbus in late August. Clark and Schimmoeller will join the team as alternates.
The roadeo is a friendly competition that pits equipment operators against one another to test their skill in maneuvering equipment through a series of obstacles intended to mimic situations they encounter on the job. Before running the course, participants are required to find deliberate mechanical bugs during a pre-trip equipment inspection.
The competition also included a test of the rules and laws pertaining to holders of a commercial driver’s license (CDL). All highway technicians at ODOT are required to retain a CDL.
“The roadeo is an opportunity for our operators to showcase and hone their skills,” said Chris Hughes, deputy director of ODOT District 1. “Our men and women put these skills to use every day as part of their jobs building and maintaining our highway system,” he said.
The plows decorated as part of the Paint the Plow contest were displayed during the roadeo. Paint the Plow is an annual competition for which area high school and vocational school students paint an ODOT plow blade with their message of school spirit, safety, patriotism or Ohio pride. There were 28 schools from ODOT District 1’s eight-county region in the contest this year – a record number of participants.
During the roadeo, ODOT employees chose a favorite entry from the contest for the overall ODOT choice award.
District 1 encompasses Allen, Defiance, Hancock, Hardin, Paulding, Putnam, Van Wert and Wyandot counties.
The Ohio Department of Transportation maintains the state’s largest man-made asset – the transportation system. ODOT’s mission is to provide the safe and easy movement of people and goods from place to place. As a more than $3 billion per year enterprise, ODOT invests the bulk of its resources in system preservation through maintenance, construction and snow and ice operations.
