Tree Climbing Championship

ANNUAL ONTARIO TREE CLIMBING CHAMPIONSHIP 
The Ontario Tree Climbing Championship takes place every September at a different venue. The OTCC features five preliminary events: a work climb, belayed speed climb, simulated aerial rescue, foot-lock style rope climb and throwline challenge. The top four men and top two women competitors from the preliminaries advance to the Master’s Challenge, a final event where the Ontario Men’s and Women’s Champion are crowned. These two top climbers go on to compete at the International Tree Climbing Championship the following summer. Spectators are welcome to attend this free event. A trade show of arborist equipment is featured and spectators can try climbing like an arborist in the “Climb For All Ages” under the guidance of a professional arborist.
Adjacent: 2012 Female Champion Jennifer Carroll (courtesy of Four Seasons Tree Care)

STIHL LIMITED (CANADA): 2012-2014 OTCC SHOW SPONSOR
Stihl Limited is the OTCC Official Show Sponsor for three years, beginning with the 2012 competition in the City of London. On behalf of the OTCC Committee and ISA Ontario, Committee Chair Paul Kobold would like to thank Stihl Limited for this generous sponsorship commitment. 

2012 ONTARIO TREE CLIMBING CHAMPIONSHIP (OTCC): SEPTEMBER 15, LONDON
Springbank Park in London hosted this year's provincial competition that features the top talent in arboriculture and an amazing arboreal display of strength, speed and agility. Two new champions were crowned. Congratulations Jennifer Carroll and Sean Hoondert! Details and scoring/results...

2012 INTERNATIONAL TREE CLIMBING CHAMPIONSHIP (ITCC): AUGUST, PORTLAND
What a thrill it was for me to attend the 2012 ISA Conference in Portland, Oregon. More importantly, it gave me the opportunity to watch the ITCC event and cheer on Krista Strating and Sean Hoondert as they competed in the preliminary events. The event was held in stunningly beautiful Laurelhurst Park, with its large majestic trees that amply challenged climbers. Krista and Sean both did extremely well throughout the preliminaries. Krista finished in 1st place in the throwline event, with a perfect score, which helped her to win 5th place overall out of 19 female competitors. An awesome job! Sean was on his game and had very good climbs during the preliminary events. Unfortunately, he didn't win any medals, but his consistent performance in the preliminaries placed him in 3rd overall (out of the 42 male climbers), getting him into the Masters Challenge event. Outstanding! Their combined scores placed them 3rd overall for the Chapter Team Award. 

The Masters Challenge was held in a very large and wide red oak. Sean chose to go first, so he could get his climb done and then relax and watch the other competitors. He was admittedly a little nervous prior to the start, but once he got into the tree he just wanted to have some fun and enjoy the experience. The placement of the work stations made the climb very challenging, causing Sean some difficulties which used up his aloted time. He finished in 5th place, but described his experience as "the highlight of my climbing career."   — Paul Kobold
2012 ITCC Competition Results…