Climbing
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Annual TCC Held in Ashwaubenon by Theresa Williams, TCC Volunteer
ITCC, WCTCC and Other Climbing News
The annual WAA Tree Climbing Championship was held on Saturday, July 13, 2013, at Klipstine Park in the village of Ashwaubenon, WI. For those who do not know, we challenge the tree climbers of Wisconsin to compete in five events: belayed speed climb, throw line, work climb, foot lock, and aerial rescue. After the preliminary events, the top scoring three men and women compete in the big tree, the Master’s Challenge. The overall best-scoring man and woman, after the Master’s Challenge, represent our chapter in the ISA International Tree Climbing Championship where climbers from all over the world compete. This year we had two women and 19 men competitors. Every competitor received a shirt, a rope bag (compliments of DWG Co.), and a participation ribbon. The day could not have been any more perfect. We had temperatures in the low 80s and the perfect sun/cloud mixture. The Village of Ashwaubenon had a great facility to accommodate our volunteers, competi-
Team Champions Team C (l-r): Andrew Gollnick, Colin Bugg, Mr. Schauer standing in for Dave Gust, and Mike Maederer. tors, and the cheering fans. The timing for the events worked out well thanks to the many volunteer judges and the wonderful cooperation from our competitors. The Men’s Master’s Challenge came down to Aaron Schauer, Colin Bugg, and reigning champion Joe House. It was a challenging bur oak, but each climber had the skills to dominate the tree. The scores were close, but in the end, Aaron Schauer is our 2014 WAA TCC men’s champion. Shelly Wollerman is our reigning 2014 women’s champion with Holly Zart placing second. Aaron and Shelly will represent the Wisconsin Chapter
The TCC competitors of the day
Aaron Schauer and Shelley Wollerman, the 2014 TCC Champions, with their Arbormaster prize packages at the 2014 ISA Tree Climbing Championship in Milwaukee, WI. We also hand out a couple other awards to keep the climbers on their toes throughout the day. The first is the Spirit of the Competition Award. During the day, the head judges of every event watch for the climber that has the most positive team spirit. This is based on their sportsmanship, their attitude, their supportiveness of the other climbers, and their respectfulness to the judges and fellow competitors. The winner is awarded The Spirit of the Competition Trophy. This year’s recipient is Aaron Schauer. The second minicompetition of the day is the Team Tree Climbing Champion Award. The team with the most overall points at the end of the preliminary events receives the coveted
Team Champion Hat. This year the team with the most points was Team C – Colin Bugg, Andrew Gollnick, Dave Gust and Mike Maederer. We need to make a special thank-you to our many volunteers. Thirty-two men and women volunteers from WI and other states made this event run as smoothly as it did. There are many who have been dedicating time to the TCC for years and we want to let you know that your continuous service is greatly appreciated. We want to thank those who volunteered for the first time and we look forward to seeing you at next year’s TCC. This year we were fortunate to have support from our sponsors to award prizes to the top seven competitors in all five events. We would like to take this time to thank all of our sponsors for their generous support. Our event sponsors’ continued support makes it possible to have a competition like this every year. Thank you: Altec Industries Ahlborn Equiptment Inc. American Tree Experts Inc. ArborMaster Inc. Buckley Tree Colonial Tree Service DWG Co. Good Tree Care GJ Kohler Trees & More Hoppe Tree Service Midwest Arborist Supplies Northern Clearing Inc. Riverview Woodlands LLC Sherill Tree St. Croix Tree Service Stephenson Tree Care Tree House Arbor Science Vermeer Wisconsin Wachtel Tree Science Wallace Tree Care Wespur Tree Equipment Inc.
