The University of Nevada’s Mackay Muckers Mining Team competed in the 40th International Intercollegiate Mining Competition in Cornwall, England in March. Despite going up against teams from all over the world, the Muckers fought their way to a second-place finish. Team members Claire Roberts and Emma Baker updated us on their overseas experience and the work the team put in leading up to the competition.
Training Before the Competition:
Every year starts out with new members and the first few months of the semester are devoted to teaching the mining methods used in the competition and practicing for tryouts. Tryouts are typically in November, giving all newbies time to improve. This year, we had alumni judges join us (they also happened to compete this year) which added extra energy to the tryout day. Our team this year was coed and consisted of two women (Claire Roberts, Emma Baker) and four males (James Ellis, Kameron Devine, Dalton Koslosky, and Austin Lemons). Once the team was picked, the serious training began. We practiced three times a week and occasionally snuck in an extra practice with the alumni team. A typical practice would involve rotations through each event in a competition style run. The events being Muck, Swede Saw, Handsteel, Goldpan, Trackstand, Jackleg, and Survey. We practiced up until the Saturday before we left for England.
Competition Experience:
The 40th International Intercollegiate Mining Competition was held in Cornwall, England in March. The team spent a week in London before the competition began. We were able to site see around London and acclimate to the time change and get over jet lag. From London we took the train to Bath to meet up with the Mackay alumni team (Ken Roberts, Vern Baker, Bob Ragar, Craig Lemons, and Jamie Eason). Three members of the alumni team have a child on the coed team. This was a great experience to share with our dads! Wednesday of the following week we arrived at the Camborne School of Mines and the events were kicked off by a welcome social. We had the opportunity to meet the other teams and have friendly competitive banter. Thursday was a practice day and we spent it at the field going over all the events with the alumni team, getting prepared for the competition on the following day.
Competition day was a blast. The alumni team and our coed team started the day off with Mucking and both teams snagged the 2nd place on the event. The next event was jackleg which was completed by two members, Emma Baker and James Ellis. The coed team placed 3rd in Jackleg. Goldpan followed which we placed 2nd in and then Swede Saw which we also placed 2nd. The alumni team also placed 2nd in Swede Saw. Then we competed in Handsteel, our personal favorite, and we placed 1st and the alumni team also placed 1st. The alumni team killed it at Handsteel, placing 1st out of every team in the competition, including the men’s teams. We ended the comp day with Trackstand. The following day we competed in the Survey event.
All in all the competition was an amazing experience and fun to compete with our alumni team there beside us! The competition had teams from all over the world, including Australia, Brazil, Germany, Holland, Great Britain, and the United States. The Mackay Muckers are very excited to host the 41st International Intercollegiate Mining Competition in March of 2019!
The Mackay Muckers would like to extend our thanks to the Nevada Mining Association for their continuous support of the Mining Team and the members of the Muckers!
Congratulations to the Muckers on a great season! Want to learn more about the team? We spoke with member Austin Lemons about the team’s experience in England before the competition began.