Tower Rodeo Corrals Fun and Camaraderie

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The TRx Challenge took place Friday and Saturday of last week in Phoenix, AZ bringing together disparate parts of the tower climbing world in a series of challenges (watch the live videos here). Despite pandemic restrictions, the event drew over 60 people, in all, between competitors, judges, sponsors and spectators who were limited by design. 

According to Rodeo founder and hostess, Kathy Gill, the Challenge lived up to her expectations and beyond. “It was fun, educational, and everyone had a great time,” she told Inside Towers. “It’s impressive to see what a challenge can do to make everybody better. From the competitors, to the sponsors, to the judges, everyone said they are looking forward to doing it again in 2021.”

Gill said one of the highlights was when the top-placing World Championship team representing Montco US&R, a fire rescue crew from Philadelphia, donated their $10,000-worth of first-prize gear from Petzl, Skylotec, PerfectVision and Buckingham to fellow competitor Tri-County Tower. Individual medals were given to winners of each event. 

In all, after a few last-minute cancelations, Gill had five tower crews compete against one another over the two-day event. She said COVID conditions didn’t prevent participants from traveling from Ohio, Maine, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Alabama to her Tower Safety & Rescue compound in Phoenix. Masks were worn by all in attendance with the only exception being when the challengers were competing.

One participant told Gill he would not have learned as much in 100 hours of tower training as he had over the course of the event.

 

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