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Alex Cabrero Reporting Utahns love rodeos, and this is the season for them. One today in Box Elder County had all the excitement of a PRCA event, except there were no animals, no cowboy hats, and no lasso's.
On the sun-scorched dirt of the Box Elder County landfill, a rugged group of operators competed to be number one.
Mark Phillips/ So. Utah Valley Solid Waste Dist.: "Well, everybody likes to win. But we're just here to have fun."
Okay, maybe these athletes aren't exactly olympic-type competitors. But they certainly are having a good time.
Chad Wilson: "It's a heavy equipment rodeo."
A heavy equipment rodeo... where big rig operators navigated through an obstacle course. At one station, you have to drive forward and backward through barrels. At another, roll a barrel through barrels.
Chad Wilson/ Salt Lake County Landfill: "This is for skill on running heavy equipment and just to see how good we are and have fun."
Operators from all across Utah came here to compete. Every year, it's held at a different landfill.
Gina Allen/ Box Elder County Landfill: "I think there is some kind of an advantage because when you run your own equipment, you're familiar with it."
All the operators basically know how to use the same equipment. But because this is Box Elder County, and they're using Box Elder County's equipment, some say there is definitely a homefield advantage.
Mark Phillips: "I think they might've practiced on it a little bit yesterday."
But nobody gets too worked up about it, especially Clyde Keene, who's retiring next month at the age of 76. This is his last landfill rodeo, and he'll miss it.
Clyde Keene/ Salt Lake County Landfill: "It's fun, but it's the experience you get from meeting other people from other landfills."
It may not be the Olympics, but it certainly has the Olympic spirit.
Congratulations to Greg Warburton from the Trans Jordan landfill in the Salt Lake Valley. He won the event, and will now represent Utah in the National Championship in New Mexico.
