When watching football or soccer on television is no longer enough, it’s time to branch out and explore. When you start feeling the itch for some more excitement and danger and the button-down suburban lifestyle just isn’t doing it anymore, seek for more. Explore the seedy underbelly of society and go to places that you don’t talk about at work or kids’ soccer games. A world of heat, smoke, danger, and intense competition is there, waiting for you to gather the courage to show up. The underworld of forklift rodeos, and the hardened competitors within, is not for the timid.
What Is a Forklift Rodeo?
The circuit is a rough grind, full of competitors looking for glory and certainly not a place for beginners, who would do well to first master basics for driving a forklift. There is little glory on the road to be found. Competitors wear the struggle on their faces in the deep cracks around their mouths, grease smudges on their cheeks, and distant stare in their eyes.
The world of forklift rodeos hearkens back to a lawless time, a time of rugged individuality, survival, and untamed spirit. It’s the Wild West without horses and cattle, only forklifts. If you want to see for yourself, check out these rodeos that are trying to move out of the shadows and into the mainstream. If you take your danger with a dash of corporate sponsorship, then these are for you.
Washington State Forklift Rodeo
Sponsored by the Washington Governor’s Industrial Safety and Health Advisory Board, this event continues to expand at the regional level. Interest in the sport is growing in the lead-up to the finals. The finals are held as part of the Governor’s Industrial Health and Safety Conference.
The Rodeo is designed to showcase the skills and safe operation of forklifts through competition. Operators will compete in forklift basketball, forklift bowling, and a series of obstacle courses.
Columbia Forklift Challenge
This event is held in Oregon and follows a similar format as the Washington State rodeo. Competitors mount their forklifts and compete for personal glory. The Oregon Governor’s Occupational Safety & Health Conference is the backdrop for this contest of control and skill.
What to Expect at the Rodeo
Forklift basketball is just what it sounds like. The driver will pluck a basketball from the top of an orange cone with the forks. Then they will maneuver between a series of cones, traveling both forward and backward on their way to the hoop.
On the approach to the basket they raise the forks to the height of the regulation hoop, ten feet. They tip the forks forward ever so slowly and hope that the ball rolls into the basket.
Forklift bowling is also what you might expect. Each competitor will pick up a pallet with a bowling ball resting on it. Then they will drive toward an elevated ramp with a slope on it and tip the ball forward. The ball rolls down the AstroTurf-covered lane toward the waiting pins.
Van Rundell is a writer and author who specializes in transportation, travel, guidance, health & fitness. With over 10 years of experience in the industry as a driver and an entrepreneur, he has seen it all. His tone is professional but friendly with a dash of humor thrown in for good measure. In past, he has been advising, educating and writing about transport for the public and professionals alike.
A qualified fitness instructor with over 5 years’ experience as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor, Van brings his deep knowledge of health and exercise science to his articles on health & fitness.
