Following Two Successful Years, IDEAL Opens Registration for Skills, Talent-Based Competition to Award $600k in Cash, Prizes
SYCAMORE, IL – Doug Sanford, Group President of IDEAL® Electrical announced today open registration for the third annual IDEAL National Championship. The electrical division, part of family-owned IDEAL INDUSTRIES, INC., continues the competition as a way to honor and showcase the abilities of electrical professionals and students/apprentices to crown new elite champions while awarding more than $600,000 in cash and prizes along the way.
New for 2018, competitors will represent their home state at Championship Weekend and are encouraged to use their own IDEAL tools during the Qualifying Round.
“The IDEAL National Championship is a highly-charged, no-holds-barred competition to discover the best electricians, students/apprentices out there,” said Sanford. “Over the past two years, nearly 60,000 men and women across America have competed. We’ve made a few updates to this year’s competition that we hope will excite previous competitors, while allowing us to broaden our reach to discover new talent.”
How It Works: A Roadmap to The Championship Weekend – Qualifying Round events will be held across the U.S. between March 7 and October 5, 2018. Canada will also enter the competition this year with its own qualifying round events occurring during the same time period.
The competition is designed to find the best in class among both professionals and students/apprentices. Each must register and then can compete as an individual and/or as part of a team (three individual electricians or students from the same company or school).
During the Qualifying Round, competitors will need to demonstrate both their mental problem-solving and physical skills across five categories: pulling wire, cutting, stripping, termination and testing – using IDEAL tools through a speed test judged by fastest completion time, tight wire connections, termination, connectivity, and safety. Those competing under the professional individual or professional team category will have an additional DataComm component added to their Qualifying Round challenge. Linesman Pliers; Combo Head™ Cushioned-Grip Screwdriver; Reflex™ Super T®-Stripper Wire Stripper; TightSight™ 660A Clamp Meter; Twister Pro® Wire Connector; S-Class® Fiberglass Fish Tape – NEW: Professionals only (Datacomm component): PrepPRO® Coax/UTP Cable Stripper, OmniSeal™ Pro Compression Tool, VDV Multimedia Cable Tester, XR™ RTQ™ F Compression Connector.
All tools will be available at each Qualifying Round event, but competitors have the option to use their own IDEAL tools, which can be purchased in advance to practice by visiting a local distributor or www.IDEALnationals.com.
New Updates to Qualifying and Wild Card Opportunities: After October 5, one professional tradesman and one student/apprentice with the fastest time (participating as individuals) will be selected from each of the 50 U.S. states rather than the 63 designated IDEAL US territories from previous years.
For Canadian competitions, one professional tradesman and one student/apprentice with the fastest time (participating as individuals) from two designated Canadian territories (East and West) will be selected to move forward.
Additionally, five professional and five student/apprentice teams from the U.S., as well as one professional and one student/apprentice team from Canada with the fastest Qualifying Round times will also be chosen to head directly to the Championship Weekend Team Finals.
New this year is 24 wild card slots to The Championship Weekend available for the 12 fastest professionals and 12 fastest student/apprentices in the US competing as individuals who do not win their state’s bid.
Those advancing will receive travel accommodations to compete in the Championship Weekend at Disney’s® Coronado Springs Resort in Lake Buena Vista, FL on December 2-3, 2018. In addition, 2nd place finishers of each state/territory will receive $500 IDEALcash, and 3rd place finishers will receive $250 IDEALcash to spend on future purchases.
This year’s winners will go head-to-head against 2017 returning elite champions: for professionals competing as individuals: 1st place Roman Ryszewski (Pennsylvania), 2nd place Greg Anliker (Illinois) and 3rd place Seth Agnew (Missouri), and for students/apprentices: 1st place Michael Yass (New York), 2nd place Jeremy Welle (Minnesota) and 3rd place Donald Riggs (Indiana).
What’s on the Line at The Championship Weekend: For professional electrical tradesmen participating as an individual: 1st place – $75,000 + $5,000 IDEALcash to the contractor; 2nd place – $25,000; 3rd place – $10,000.
For professional electrical tradesmen participating as a team: 1st place – $60,000 (split amongst teammates) + $5,000 IDEALcash to the contractor.
For students/apprentices participating as an individual: 1st place – $30,000 + $5,000 IDEALcash to trade school; 2nd place – $20,000; 3rd place – $10,000.
For students/apprentices participating as a team: 1st place – $30,000 (split amongst teammates) + $5,000 IDEALcash for trade school.
To register and learn more information about the IDEAL National Championship, please visit: www.IDEALnationals.com. The IDEAL National Championship app is also currently available for free download through Apple, Blackberry, Google Play and Amazon app stores and is compatible with iOS and Android devices.
