Staff Writer 

Cape Elizabeth Public Works employees made it big at the 17th annual Cumberland County Snowplow Rodeo hosted at the Cape Elizabeth Public Works facility.

Cape Elizabeth ranked second in the competition, and will join the Cumberland teams in the state competition next month, Cape Elizabeth Public Works Director Bob Malley said. 

According to the American Public Works Association, the course at the state competition is more difficult. 

Malley said most public works employees eventually develop “a feel” for where their plow is, but Cape Elizabeth Public Works employees Josh Dennison and Sean McCue said communication is most important. 

Dennison said some of the older drivers started snowplowing in pairs; one driver and a “wingman” to control the plow wing, but most employees now drive and control the wing at the same time.

“You can have the best driver, but if you don’t have good communication, you can’t do anything,” McCuie said. 

 Malley said  three Scarborough teams came in fourth, 18th and 19th place of the 22 teams that participated in this year’s rodeo. 

Each team is scored on its ability to maneuver through 10 different scenarios, ranging from near-misses with mailboxes and fire hydrants to backing and maneuvering through an obstacle course with tennis balls placed on top of traffic cones, Malley said. Points are awarded for either hitting an object – such as a tennis ball placed inches away from a hydrant – or missing it completely, with the goal being to accumulate the least amount of overall points and still complete the course in less than eight minutes, he said.

“The idea is to have fun, but there’s a lot of pride involved,” Malley said. 

Despite Kevin Collins and Dan Desimo’s best efforts, Malley said the Scarborough teams accrued too many points to be eligible for the State Championship Rodeo in Skowhegan next month. 

“I’ve done better in the past,” Desimo said. “I think the cone field did me in.”

Malley said crews from the town of Cumberland had the best score in the rodeo and will travel to the state competition for the third year in a row. 

“They’re the team to beat, they did a great job,” Malley said. “[Cape Elizabeth] was actually in first for a while, then [Cumberland] just took it away from everybody.”

Crews are also required to perform a “circle check” on a vehicle at the state competition. 

The “circle check” challenge requires teams to find as many problems with the vehicle as possible within a five-minute period, without tearing it apart. 

The winner of the state competition will fly to Colorado to participate in the Western Snow and Ice Conference, where teams from across the country will compete for what Malley called “the Stanley Cup of snowplowing.”

“It’s really quite an honor,” Malley said. “There’s no school you can go to to learn this stuff, it takes some sort of raw skill.”

Staff Writer Nate Jones may be reached at 282-4337 ext. 233.