(Back Row – Standing) Michal Obuchowicz, Krystian Michalak, Tom Lavigne, Randy Langwell, LiAnna Gusso, Corey Nelson, James Ralphs, Ian Campbell, Robyn Watson, Stephen Myckatyn, Randy Hiles, Nav Mander (Front Row) Melissa, Ashley, Brittany, Kayla – Rally Girls*.

On Saturday May 5th, 2012 forklift operators from across British Columbia came together to compete at the 15th Annual BC Championship Forklift Rally held at the Cloverdale Agriplex.

The event included:

• Over $3500.00 in prize money
• Competition in four divisions (Reach Truck, Counterbalanced Propane, Counterbalanced Electric & Power Pallet Jack)
• A written test based on WorkSafeBC Regulations
• Almost 75 competitors from over 30 companies
• Forklift Bowling, Basketball & Soccer
• Competitors from across the Lower Mainland and as far away as the Okanagan and Washington State.

Side Attractions included:

• Free Donuts, Muffins & Coffee for Breakfast (courtesy of Saginaw Bakery, Tim Horton’s & Johnston Equipment)
• Smokies & Pop for lunch (courtesy of Freybe Gourmet Foods & Johnston Equipment)
• Bouncy Castle for the Kids (courtesy of Adecco Employment)
• Rally Girls (provided by L2 Models)

Rally Champions

At the end of the day 12 contestants shared in $3600.00 in prize money with $500 being awarded to all first place finishers and $300 and $100 being awarded to second and third place winners.

First Place

• Reach Truck – Nav Mander (EV Logistics – Ambient)
• Counterbalanced Electric – Randy Hiles (EV Logistics – Ambient)
• Counterbalanced Propane – Corey Nelson (Americold)
• Power Pallet Jack – Robyn Watson (Best Buy)

Second Place

• Reach Truck – James Ralphs (London Drugs)
• Counterbalanced Electric – LiAnna Gusso (Kerry Canada Inc)
• Counterbalanced Propane – Randy Langwell (Americold)
• Power Pallet Jack – Stephen Myckatyn (EV Logistics – Ambient)

Third Place

• Reach Truck – Krystian Michalak (RC Products Ltd.)
• Counterbalanced Electric – Michal Obuchowicz (Kal Tire)
• Counterbalanced Propane – Tom Lavigne (Ainsworth Engineered)
• Power Pallet Jack – Ian Campbell (Versacold Cliveden)

Media Coverage

The event caught the attention of local media being featured on a major Canadian TV network during the noon and evening television news. Event Manager John Gilder said “We have never received press like this before. We received numerous calls and emails from people wanting to compete next year due to exposure we received.”

• Global BC News-the event ended up as the sign off piece on both the noon and evening news the day of the event (directions for viewing above video: after the news broadcast starts you will need to forward the time slider on the video to about 34:30 and then watch a commercial or two first before the Forklift Rally news piece comes on)
• Vancouver Province – the province did a video interview of the event and an article that landed ono page for of the Sunday paper. – Click here to view the Video Coverage from the Vancouver Province
• Forkliftaction.com – we received extensive coverage from Forkliftaction.com, the most read forklift website in the world, with a newsletter distribution of 200,000 readers – Click here to read the winners announcement article.

Supporters & Suppliers

Forklifts were supplied by Johnston Equipment (Raymond), Harding Forklift (Yale) & Williams Machinery (Clark) and racking was supplied and setup by Johnston Equipment.

All judges are certified trainers hailing from a variety of mobile equipment training companies including Pivot Training Services (www.pivotservices.ca), NIS Training (www.nistraining.com), DWM Unlimited,  Don Sayers Associates (www.donsayersassociates.com) and Martin’s Forklift (www.martinsforklift.com).

Pallets were supplied by London Drugs (www.londondrugs.com), transportation was provided by ATS Healthcare (www.atshealthcare.ca) and traffic cones & barrels were provided by Coast Mountain Bus (www.coastmountainbus.com).

Sponsors

The event is held in partnership with WorkSafeBC (www.worksafebc.com), and sponsors include Johnston Equipment (www.johnstonequipment.com), East Penn Manufacturing (www.eastpenncanada.com), Harding Forklift Services Ltd. (www.hardingforklift.com), Williams Machinery (www.williamsmachinery.com), NIS Training (www.nistraining.com), Forkliftaction.com (www.Forkliftaction.com), TVH (www.tvhamericas.com), FIOSA-MIOSA (www.fmiosa.com), Pivot Industrial Training Services (www.pivotservices.ca) and Adecco Employment Services (www.adecco.ca).