CINCINNATI, Ohio – An intense competition took place just across the Ohio River from northern Kentucky on Friday. It wasn’t the Reds or Bengals, but teams of gas line workers from around the country.
On an average day, watching gas line workers cut a pipe, renew a service or dig a hole as fast as they possibly can might be a sign something has gone terribly wrong. But when it’s a Regional Natural Gas Lineman Rodeo, people don’t just watch. They cheer their favorite teams on with the same intensity one might expect to see at any other sporting event.
“There’s a chance it could grow into something where you actually might see it on the Ocho or something,” said Tim Dennemann, captain of the Methane Heads, a team of Duke Energy employees, many of whom live in and have served countless customers around northern Kentucky.
It was the first time this competition was held in Cincinnati, and thus the first home game, so to speak, for the Methane Heads. They are the defending national champions in the hole-dig competition, and came in third overall in last year’s National Natural Gas Lineman Rodeo.
On Friday they competed with 31 other teams from Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas, which is a subsidiary of Duke Energy.
“I love these guys. Anytime I get to hang out with my guys and do something competitive that we put a lot of time and effort into, and have gotten good at it, it’s fun to be good,” Dennemann said.
The Methane Heads took first place in the pipe cutting competition. However, because they had previously set the bar so high in hole-dig, falling short of their expectations on this day was disappointing.
“It’s not that we had a bad event. It’s that we’re defending national champions, and we didn’t win,” Dennemann said. “We know what we’re capable of doing, so we don’t get rattled.”
In the end, the fact that this regional competition was the same size as last year’s national rodeo was an encouraging sign to the team, Dennemann said. Competing may be fun for the teams involved, but the high level of skill on display, he said, should be encouraging to their customers.
“I would like to think that would instill some confidence in the customer base for Duke Energy and Piedmont. I mean, if we can renew a service in 90 seconds above ground, we can probably do it when it’s underground pretty fast, too.”
The Methane Heads finished third overall in the regional competition, unfortunately just missing out on this year’s national competition. But they’ll be back at it, looking for redemption when the next round of competition takes place.
