The winner of Barrhead’s park and recreation department’s first ever Zamboni Rodeo was as surprised as anyone.
Nathan Croft, who has worked with the department for about two and half years, bested his co-workers, some of whom had many more years of experience.
“It was really a close race. I think I only won by something like 15 seconds,” he said, after the Town of Barrhead’s first ever Zamboni Rodeo at the Agrena on Monday, April 10. “I really thought one of the more experienced drivers was going to win.”
Rodeo participants competed in two different events, both designed to showcase their skills as Zamboni drivers.
In the first event, the drivers had to navigate through an obstacle course of pylons. To make it easier to see if a driver hit a pylon, an egg was placed was puton top of it. The winner of the event was the person who was able to navigate the course the fastest. Extra time was added for those who knocked over an egg.
Croft finished the course with a time of 1:41 and did not break any eggs.
“I think I was a bit lucky,” Croft admitted. “I am pretty sure I brushed one of the pylons, but the egg didn’t drop.”
For the second event, competitors had to drive in a straight line in a simulated game of chicken, with the winner being the person who stopped closest to an egg topped pylon. Once again Croft was the winner and the egg remained unscathed.
Parks and recreation director Shallon Touet said one of the reasons why he was willing to risk the ice surface becoming dirtied by egg yolk is that shortly after the race, they started the process of taking out the ice, a process that takes the better part of two days to complete.
“During the hockey season, a lot of the work the staff does is pretty solitary, so the rodeo is a just a fun way to wrap the winter up,” he said.
Croft agreed, adding in the future he hopes to be able to test his Zamboni driving skills against other municipalities in an area competition.
“I think it would be fun to see how we stack up against other drivers,” he said.
