Four contestants from North America, 2 from Canada and 2 from the United States, traveled to ElmiaWood 2009 in Jonkoping, Sweden to compete at the Forwarder World Cup. Competing from Canada were the 1st and 2nd place finishers from the 2008 Canadian Forwarder Operator Challenge held last September at Demo 2008 located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Pierre-Olivier Fortin, St-Urbain, QC - 1st place and Charles Pilote, St-Urbain, QC - 2nd place.
Competing from the United States also were the 1st and 2nd place finishers from the 2008 Lakes States Challenge held last September at the Lakes States Logging Congress in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Brad Ackerman, Priest River, Idaho - 1st place and Jeremy Dobson, Negaunee, MI - 2nd place. Both the US and Canadian contests are sponsored partly by Komatsu Forest and Komatsu Forest Dealers.
At the International competition held at ElmiaWood, 22 contestants ran in the qualification round and only the top 8 fastest times can advance on to the Quarter Finals. Three of the four contestants from North America found themselves in this top eight. Advancing were Brad Ackerman, Jeremy Dobson and Charles Pilote. The quarter finals found Brad and Jeremy running against each other and unfortunately only one could advance, with Brad edging out Jeremy by a mere 1 second, placing Brad into the Semi-final round. Charles also found himself being eliminated in the quarter finals by Timo Nieminen of Finland, who eventually went on to be the World Cup Champion.
In the Semi Final heat Brad was to find himself in competition also against Timo Nieminen and was defeated by 5 seconds. This then placed Brad into a run for 3rd place against Mathias Paulson of Sweden. Brad was the victor in this race securing a very respectful 3rd place finish in the Forwarder World Cup 2009 Challenge.
Overall North American results at the Forwarder World Cup 2009 were as follows:
Brad Ackerman - 3rd Place
Jeremy Dobson - 5th Place
Charles Pilote - 7th Place
Pierre-Olivier Fortin - 13th Place
We are proud to play a part in recognizing the skilled forestry workers in North America.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!!