Dutchman wins the 10th Caterpillar® Operator Challenge for the third consecutive year

• 
• 9th November 2007
• Materials Handling
 

Dutchman Peter Van Schaik has won the 10^th annual Caterpillar Operator Challenge competition held 2-5 October in Malaga, Spain. Van Schaik's countryman Jan-Maarten Schuurman scored second followed by Christer Persson from Sweden in third place. The results were announced at the gala awards ceremony on Friday 5 October in Malaga.

This comes as no surprise to event organiser Bob Brice who said "The Dutch always send a very good team over here and expected to win'"..."The Scandinavians are always very good".

The country competition was won by the Netherlands followed by Sweden and Germany in second and third position respectively.

Overall there were six machine tests: backhoe loader, off highway truck, multi terrain loader, large hydraulic excavator, wheel excavator and medium size wheel loader; all demanding precise movements, articulate discipline and high levels of concentration. Van Schaik took first place at two out of the six tests.

Even though the event was very demanding and filled with tension, many teams seemed to enjoy themselves as the Italians commented: "we came here to have fun, and that's what we did!"

The Caterpillar Operator Challenge 2007 hosted 48 participants from 22 countries. The finalists came from Belgium, Bosnia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and United Arab Emirates. They were all selected through a robust series of local competitions.

The Caterpillar Operator Challenge is usually described as the toughest competition on earth because "We make it tough", said Bob Brice, the event coordinator.

To reach the Malaga finals all the participants had to win a series of local and national events; each country selected from one or two best operators to represent their country.

In the past six years, the winners of the competition have come from the Netherlands: Peter van Schaik also won the competition in 2006 and 2005 while his countryman Ton Verdam obtained the title for three consecutive times in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

Overall results
Position	Operator	Country
1	Peter Van Schaik	The Netherlands
2	Jan-Maarten Schuurman	The Netherlands
3	Christer Persson	Sweden
4	John Janse	The Netherlands
5	Tomas Klasson	Sweden
6	Niels Rasmussen	Denmark

Country league results
Position	Country
1	The Netherlands
2	Sweden
3	Germany
4	Norway
5	Denmark
6	Finland

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