Back for the first time since 2018, the UK Forwarder Driving Competition proved to be a highlight of this year’s APF.
ITS return had been widely hailed in the run-up to APF 2024 – and the UK Forwarder Driving Competition certainly lived up to its billing.
Back for the first time since 2018, the contest saw the UK’s best operators get behind the controls of a brand-new John Deere 1110G and put their skills to the test on a hillside course, featuring goalposts, timber to shift, and, most challengingly of all, wooden cubes to place.
With a time of 5.52, Stephen Robinson took home the main prize, with George Gilder (6.12) and Sam Bacon (6.22) completing the top three. George was in attendance to collect his specially-made trophy on the Saturday, with Stephen and Sam due to get theirs at a later date.
A winner of the competition in 2016 while behind the controls of a Komatsu, Stephen praised 2024’s contest for better resembling a working day in a forwarder.
“I enjoyed the course over previous years because it wasn’t just flat,” Stephen, of Mansfield-based Robinson and Sons Timber, said. “It was still a grass field, but it had a bit of side terrain and it resembled a working day in a forwarder more than a flat field. That makes a difference. Everyone would like to forward on a cricket pitch all day long, but that just doesn’t happen.
“It was more relevant to forwarder driving.”
A dedicated harvester operator for more than a decade, Stephen’s current machine is a John Deere 1270G, and he was especially happy that 2024’s competition featured one of the manufacturer’s forwarders.
“I am very happy with myself,” Stephen, 36, added. “I’ve driven a harvester now for about 11/12 years. There are some good names up there who drive a forwarder permanently, so I am delighted.
“I always think your best harvester operators have been good forwarder drivers. I have driven John Deeres since I came into forestry in 2008 so I am at home in them.
“For me, as an operator, I always want a John Deere.”
The event was sponsored by Richard Court Forestry Engineering and Coombes Forestry, with both brands also exhibiting during the show.
Richard Court said: “It’s really important to put something back into the show, and for us to sponsor it is quite nice. It’s great to see the John Deere machines at the APF. It went really well.
"There were some really good times. It went better than expected – people were really into it.”
Tim Dicker, senior forestry manager at Coombes, said: “It was great to see so many people wanting to take part, have a go, and have some fun.
“The course is set up with a number of challenges, such as driving the machine through a number of goalposts to mimic a forest environment. Then there is moving some logs between frames. What caught most people out was the cube-stacking challenge.
“It’s great to have the competition back. There is a lot of buzz and a lot of excitement.”
Other operators inside the top ten included Owen Wheatly (6.36), Ashley Cadman (6.43) and Matt Snow (also 6.43).
“I feel good, but a bit annoyed I didn’t win it!” said second-placed George Gilder of Jonathan Cook Forestry Services. “It was good fun. Before COVID I had a go on the one that was Komatsu but I prefer John Deere as it’s the one I drive for my job.”
Ian Millward, APF exhibition secretary, said: “We have had some criticism that we haven’t had enough of the big machines at recent shows. To have the big machines back and working is great; where else could you come and jump inside a new John Deere forwarder and have a go on it?”
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