FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) — Father and son duo Danny and Josh Haithcock of Florence County will be among 59 Duke Energy line technicians who will compete in the International Lineman’s Rodeo Oct. 17 at the National Agricultural Hall of Fame in Bonner Springs, Kansas on October 17.
“Our line technicians enjoy competing on an international platform where they are side-by-side with the best of the best in their craft,” said Colby Quaife, technical training specialist at Duke Energy in Indiana. “Our guys know how to keep the lights on, and the rodeo is their opportunity to demonstrate to the world their day-to-day experience and expertise that our customers appreciate and count on.”
All Duke Energy participants at the rodeo earned their spots by competing in regional Duke Energy competitions. Fifty-nine line technicians, representing Duke Energy’s six-state service area, including North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, will participate in the apprentice, journeyman and senior team divisions.
An apprentice is a line worker with less than four years of utility experience. A rodeo journeyman has greater than four years of utility experience and a senior-journeyman must be over 45 years old.
Danny Haithcock is a third generation lineman and is looking forwarding to competing with his son, Josh, at the 2015 International Lineman’s Rodeo. “Our families have had a lot of gratification with serving the public to help ensure they have the power in their homes to carry out every day normal functions regardless of the time of day, holidays or the weather,” he said. Danny has been a lineman for 28 years. Danny works out of Sumter and lives in Timmonsville, S.C.
Josh is a fourth generation lineman. His great-grandfather was a contractor for 40 years and his grandfather worked 37 years at Duke Power. His father, Danny, is competing on his journeyman team at this year’s competition. “My wife understands that the job can be tough, but she is totally supportive of what I do. She loves that I love what I do. And she’s proud to be a line wife,” he said. Josh works out of Kingstree and lives in Coward.
The rodeo competition begins Oct. 17 at 8 a.m. Central Standard Time with individual competitors and teams vying to earn the top honors. Duke Energy tweeters @DE_SallyT and @DE_MeghanM will be sharing live updates on their Twitter feeds and on Duke Energy’s Facebook.
Learn more about the competitors.
Duke Energy employs more than 5,000 line workers across its six-state service area.
Information in this article is from a press release.
