{"id":88599,"date":"2025-03-17T11:13:31","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T15:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/?p=88599"},"modified":"2025-03-17T11:25:11","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T15:25:11","slug":"showcasing-skills-and-building-community-apua-hosts-line-worker-rodeo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/showcasing-skills-and-building-community-apua-hosts-line-worker-rodeo\/","title":{"rendered":"Showcasing skills and building community: APUA hosts line-worker rodeo"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Kisean Joseph<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

kisean.josseph@antiguaobserver.com<\/a><\/p>\n

The Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) Electricity Business Unit hosted its much-anticipated Line-worker Rodeo, yesterday, bringing together skilled workers to compete in a series of technical challenges that showcased their expertise and precision.<\/p>\n

The event at the Rising Sun Grounds, ran from 10am to 5pm and marked the return of APUA\u2019s own line-worker competition after a hiatus since 2009. Spectators, including students, witnessed first-hand the complex skills required to maintain the island\u2019s electrical infrastructure. They were also provided with information about potential career paths.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always good when you can have these sorts of activities where our team members can compete on a softer level.\u00a0But in 2009, APUA hosted a rodeo and there had been a pause between that,\u201d Anazette Reynolds, corporate communications officer at APUA said.<\/p>\n

Reynolds explained that last year\u2019s regional utility rodeo hosted in Antigua served as inspiration for reviving the local competition.<\/p>\n

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\u201cLast year, CARILEC [Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation], which is the regional utility body, hosted the regional CARILEC rodeo in Antigua, and from that, it inspired us to start having our own APUA rodeo,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n

The event was more than just an internal contest.<\/p>\n

According to organisers, Friday\u2019s rodeo served as qualifying rounds to determine which lineworkers will represent Antigua at the upcoming regional competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best of the best would then represent Antigua and APUA in the regional rodeo that\u2019s happening next month in the BVI,\u201d Reynolds said.<\/p>\n

Girvan Pigott, customer service supervisor at APUA, underscored the educational value of the event for the wider community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing here is actually to educate the public. It is a competition, yes, but it is an education to the public so that they can see exactly what it takes, what\u2019s required, and what safety procedures that we must follow to execute our job on a day-to-day basis,\u201d Pigott said.<\/p>\n

The event featured various challenges designed to test the line-workers\u2019 knowledge, precision, and teamwork in conditions that simulate their real-world responsibilities. Participants demonstrated techniques including pole climbing, equipment installation, and emergency response procedures while being evaluated on both speed and adherence to safety protocols.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this exposes them to see that APUA actually has something interesting that they\u2019d be interested in doing. There\u2019s a lot of subjects that incorporate APUA for children\u2014you talk about physics, mathematics, English, because you have to communicate well,\u201d he said, addressing the students who were on hand to observe the competition.<\/p>\n

The event highlighted the intersection of technical skill, physical stamina, and safety awareness required in utility work\u2014elements often unseen by the public despite their reliance on these essential services.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of what we do here at APUA, I think it\u2019s a benefit to the community. What we\u2019re doing here in terms of showcasing just a few things that we do on a day-to-day basis is quite instrumental and quite beneficial,\u201d Pigott added.<\/p>\n

The revival of the APUA Line-worker Rodeo represents not only a commitment to professional development and excellence within the utility company but also strengthens the connection between APUA and the community it serves.<\/p>\n

As the winners prepare to represent Antigua at the regional competition in the British Virgin Islands next month, they will carry with them not just technical expertise but community pride.<\/p>\n

SOURCE: \"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to view original article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kisean Joseph kisean.josseph@antiguaobserver.com The Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) Electricity Business Unit hosted its much-anticipated Line-worker Rodeo, yesterday, bringing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":88600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-member-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/APUA-Line-worker-Rodeo.jpg","month_date":"Mar","day_date":"17","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/88600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}