Tree Climbing Championship Report
Tree Climbing Championship Report
by Kevin Bassett & Chris Brewer
The Texas Tree Climbing Championship (TTCC) was held last year on April 20th and 21st in Plano’s Bob Woodruff Park. The day included five preliminary events: 1) Work Climb: Contestants climb to five stations in a tree, performing a different task at each station. 2) Aerial Rescue: Contestants reach and safely lower an injured climber (actually a life-sized mannequin). 3) Throwline: Tests the contestant’s agility to accurately place climbing lines approximately 50 feet up in a tree. 4) Belayed Speed Climb: Contestants ascend a predetermined route from the ground to approximately 50 feet in the tree. 5) Secured Footlock: Measures the climber’s ability to perform a vertical ascent of 50 feet into the tree using a double climbing line.
Contestants were judged on accuracy, technique, and speed in each event. The top four finishers then moved to the final competition called the Masters’ Challenge. The winner of the Masters’ Challenge was then ushered in as the new Champion for 2007 and competed in the International Tree Climbing Championship (ITCC) in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The event was open to all professional tree climbers across the state of Texas. The Masters’ Challenge was held across two immense Bur Oaks on the south end of the park. The climbers were severely challenged to complete the event in only 25 minutes. Vicente Navarro, a current employee of Arborilogical Services, took home the title of 2007 TTCC Champion with an outstanding showing in the final climb, being the only competitor of the four finalists to complete the grueling Masters’ Challenge within the time allowed.
The five preliminary events were all won by Miguel Pastenes, also a current employee of Arborilogical Services, Inc. (ASI), Miguel was the defending 2006 Champion and his performance in the preliminaries was one for the record books, as no one in the history of the event has had the honor of sweeping the preliminaries.
As the TTCC Champion, Vicente earned a berth in the ITCC held the first week of August in Honolulu, Hawaii. Thirty-eight men and 16 women from around the world competed in the tropical paradise. The Manoa Campus of the University of Hawaii was the site for the preliminaries. The finals were held on the grounds of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach. The trees were difficult tests for the competitors. In the end, reigning Champion, Berend Strasser, of Germany added his seventh World Championship. The women’s final was dominated by an outstanding performance from Chrissy Spence of New Zealand. It was her second World Championship. Vicente represented Texas very well, even though he sustained a minor injury to his thumb in his first event and was unable able to compete in further events. Vicente did gain valuable experience during the competition and will be a tough competitor in the TTCC for years to come. Kevin Bassett, arborist with ASI, once again helped with the event as Head Judge in the Footlock and the Head-to-Head Footlock events.
The 2008 TTCC will be held April
4th and 5th in Fort Worth’s Trinity Park. Visit www.isatexas.com for future information. We at Arborilogical Services will continue to assist with these events and our climbers always look forward to the competition. Through the years, the investment of time and money has been rewarded with our climbers learning and adopting new techniques making them better, safer and more efficient at their jobs.
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