Visitors to the well-established event, held at the Royal Highland Centre in Ingliston, were greeted by glorious sunshine, some warm Scottish hospitality and a number of JCB machines, including a few notable new additions to the construction range.
As well as the challenge, visitors to the stand were treated to walkarounds of the new JCB 370X tracked excavator - the largest in the X Series family - and the JCB 25Z-1 and 26C-1 mini diggers, which were available to see in person in Scotland for the first time since they were launched earlier this year. Also featuring on the stand were not one, but two 70th anniversary Platinum Edition 4CX backhoe loaders owned by Joe Allan & Son and Morris Leslie.
Around 100 people took part in the challenge and there were plenty of spectators to cheer them on. It was tight on the leaderboard with all competitors in the top 17, managing to complete the two games within the 4-minute mark.
Top of the leaderboard at the end of the two-day event was 16-year-old Jamie Currie with a time of 02:48:00. Jamie, who has always had a passion for driving machines, became the UK’s youngest CPCS operator when he was just 13 and recently started his own company, 007 Plant Hire. Despite his young age, he’s no stranger to competing, placing overall third in last year’s Scottish Plant Operator Challenge.
“I had a great day at ScotPlant and the JCB Operator Challenge was very well thought out”, said Jamie. “I can’t wait to see JCB’s set up at the final!”
In second place, was James Herring from ZTL Earthworks (02:51:00) followed very closely behind by James Penman from Tyrie Contracts (02:52:00).
Well done to all the operators who took part and thank you to everyone who came to support!