Organizers said the team count at the campus of Rend Lake College last week was up from the 2009 event, despite teams traveling from outside Illinois.
In fact, 60% of teams came from the states of Kentucky (5), Indiana (5), Colorado (1) and Alabama (1).
While the Dotiki team did not have the fastest time in the rescue scenario set up by officials, the members came in under the average time of 57 minutes and 35 seconds, and logged just four discounts.
“The discounts judges gave teams are like golf strokes,” the event coordinators noted.
“A lower number of discounts equals a better score. The average discounts handed out were 36.8 a team, with the highest being 132,” noting that the fasted time, 42:56, was set by seventh-place finisher Gateway mine (Peabody Energy).
Of the top five finishers, two were from the contest’s home state of Illinois – Willow Lake in third and Knight Hawk Coal in fifth. Peabody’s Twentymile team from Colorado was fourth and the Gibson County Rescue Rhinos were second.
“We are happy with the way all teams competed, but our [Illinois] teams are making a lot of progress with their skills and we are happy with today’s results,” IMRA president Chad Barras said.
“The real mission is to get our skills to the point that, in a disaster, we would be able to handle the situation with whatever is thrown at us.”
Knight Hawk Coal safety director Bill Sanders, who participated in the event, noted the training that rescuers can receive at such competitions.
“I think these contests are very good for them and they learn a lot from them,” he said.
“Their lives depend upon each other. They got to have camaraderie. They’ve got to depend on one another and they’ve got to trust one another.”
In total, the IMRA handed out 13 awards, including combined mine rescue and bench as well as individual benchman trophies. Travelling awards included Best Illinois Benchman to Seth Tate of White County Coal’s Pattiki mine, Best Illinois Mine Rescue to Big Ridge Willow Lake mine and the Tommy Steele Memorial to Webster County Coal’s Dotiki mine.
In combined mine rescue and bench, Gibson County took home first place in the Biomarine division, and Webster County’s Dotiki won the Biomarine Revelation division.
Tops in the Biomarine Revelation contest was Robbie Meadows of River View Coal, with Todd Watson of Hopkins County Coal’s Elk Creek in second.
First place benchman in the Biomarine division was Zach Brown of Gibson County, while Tate took second.
The 2010 event was the second time teams gathered at Rend Lake College for the annual event, as the institution has recently completed a mine rescue training center on its campus.
Organizers also noted its central location as an attractive benefit to the competition.
