Pictured above are Dan Daniels and Matt Beckstead of the team that travelled to Colorado for the Western Snow & Ice conference. Pictured below and to the right is Bruce Dial.

Southeast Idaho trio earns Top 5 honors at Western Snow & Ice
skills competition

For the better part of two decades, ITD has sent the winners of the state roadeo competition to Colorado each fall to test their equipment skills and knowledge against the region’s best at the Western Snow & Ice Conference. Over the years, a few ITD individuals have placed high in the competition. This year, a trio from southeast Idaho added their names to that exclusive list.

Matt Beckstead from ITD’s Preston Maintenance shed, Dan Daniels from the Malad shed and Pocatello’s Bruce Dial joined Brad Steiner of New Meadows (southwest Idaho) in Colorado in late September. ITD traditionally sends only the first- and second-place winners each year, but Dial and Steiner (the 2013 Idaho winners) also traveled to Estes Park this year. Their trip last year was cancelled due to heavy flooding in the area.  

The Idaho representatives competed as a team in both the single- and tandem-axle truck events and as individuals in the loader and motor-grader events. The team of Beckstead and Daniels placed fifth in the tandem-axle event, while in the loader event Dial was fifth and Beckstead 10th. In 2010, Dial was seventh place in single-axle event at the regional event, and was part of the fourth-place team for tandem-axle driving.

“I’m extremely proud of my co-workers for winning at the state level, and being such incredible competitors at the national level,” said Ed Bala, ITD’s southeast Idaho region district engineer. “It says a lot about their skill and attitude, especially given the fact they competed nationally in unfamiliar equipment.”

“This is important safety and operations training, and excellent employees like Bruce, Matt and Dan use those skills every day keeping mobility at an all-time high level here in southeast Idaho,” Bala added.

ITD Maintenance Hall of Fame
Rex Hufford, who has coordinated ITD’s teams competing at the Western Snow & Ice Conference since 1997, lists the department’s finishers in the Top 10 in the regional competition:

SINGLE AXLE TRUCK EVENT (TEAM DRIVING)
2010  -  7th place  -  Pete McGuire (D4)
                                                     Bruce Dial (D5)
2005  -  6th place  - Mark Johnson(D1)
                                                     Dan Davis (D3)
2003  -  8th place  -  Dan Davis (D3)
                                                     Robin Freeman (D3)

TANDEM AXLE TRUCK EVENT (TEAM DRIVING)
            2014  -  5th place  -  Matt Beckstead (D5)
                                                     Dan Daniels (D5)
            2010  -  4th place  -  Pete McGuire (D4)
                                                     Bruce Dial (D5)
            2007   - 2nd place  -     Robin Freeman (D3)
                                                     Mike Praegitzer (D4)
            2004  -  5th place  -  George Shutes (D1)
                                                     Dale Fremont (D6)

LOADER  EVENT (INDIVIDUAL COMPETITON)
            2014  -  5th place  -  Bruce Dial (D5)
                        10th place  -  Matt Beckstead (D5)
            2012  -  2nd place  - Mike Rearden (D1)
            2011  -  8th place  -  Kelley Dick (D3)
                        10th place  -  Mike Rearden (D1)
            2006  -  9th place  -  Robin Freeman (D3)                                   
            2004  -  9th place  -  George Shutes (D1)
            2003  -  8th place  -  Dan Davis (D3)
            2001  -  1st place  -  Jarret Porter (D4)

MOTOR GRADER  EVENT (INDIVIDUAL COMPETITON)
            2011  -  7th place  -  Kelley Dick (D3)
            2007  -  7th place  -  Mike Praegitzer (D4)
            2003  -  10th place  -  Dan Davis (D3)

Published 10-31-14