ORLANDO -- FedEx Freight technicians racked up 10 separate station victories at the Technology & Maintenance Council’s 2017 SuperTech competition this week, as Mark McLean came away with an unprecedented third SuperTech title in five years.
The Montgomery, New York-based technician won the Grand Championship title in 2013 and 2014, then took second place last year after sitting out 2015 due to a rule requiring repeat winners to take a break after back-to-back wins.
More than 1,000 TMC members, SuperTech competitors and their spouses were in attendance at a banquet held at the Marriott World Center Resort in Orlando, Florida, as TMC gave out over $100,000 in cash and prizes to technicians competing from all over the United States. As the evening wore on, the SuperTech Award Ceremony was dominated by numerous category victories by both FedEx Freight and Walmart Transport, with respectable showings also posted by Travel Centers of America and BASE Air Management. But McLean’s multiple wins eventually put him solidly in first place.
Doug Nickels, also with FedEx Freight, took second place SuperTech honors, with Joseph Calaway with BASE Air Management taking third place overall. Despite its strong showing by individual technicians, Walmart did not have a Top 10 finalist at the end of the evening, while FedEx Freight technicians took 8 of the Top 10 finalist slots in the overall rankings.
McLean, who said he was first attracted to a career as a diesel technician by working on cars as a young boy, said he hoped his SuperTech wins would help him move into a fleet management role in the future in order to fulfill his dream of mentoring and helping young technicians grow their skill sets and reach their full potential.
The evening was special for another reason as well. For the first time, TMC had a female technician walk away with both category wins and an overall victory, when WyoTech student Bonnie Greenwood was named 2017 TMC FutureTech Grand Champion earlier in the night.
TMC’s FutureTech Competition allows worthy technical school students to compete for cash and prizes in a separate event as a way of highlighting careers in the field of fleet maintenance. Greenwood won a total of three categories and walked away from the winner’s stage with more than $4,000 in cash and prizes.
The Top 10 winners for the 2017 TMC SuperTech Competition are:
- Mark McLean, FedEx Freight
- Doug Nickels, FedEx Freight
- Joesph Calaway, BASE Air Management
- Matt Sloan, FedEx Freight
- Larry Coatney, FedEx Freight
- Michael Gavrielides, Travel Centers of America
- Phillip Barlow, FedEx Freight
- Terry Podralski, W.W. Williams
- Phillip Pinter, FedEx Freight
- Joseph Paul, FedEx Freight
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