Kalgoorlie’s Jake Myers crowned WA winner of the WesTrac-hosted Caterpillar Global Operator Challenge

The men behind the engines that drive Western Australia’s economy battled it out on Saturday to claim the title of the State’s best equipment operator.

Kalgoorlie’s Jake Myers was crowned the WA winner of the WesTrac-hosted Caterpillar Global Operator Challenge.

He will now travel to Japan to represent WA at the Asia Pacific regional final in October.

Mr Myers outshone seven other finalists on different Cat machines in three separate challenges, included navigating an obstacle course, using a mini excavator to play golf, and trench digging.

The Global Operator Challenge was launched by Caterpillar in 2019 to “recognise and celebrate one of the key ingredients in successful use of Cat equipment, the people that operate the machines”, according to WesTrac WA General Manager of Construction Cameron Callaway. “It’s been an exciting month or two for WesTrac. We started by calling for nominations and received over 50 applications,” he said.

“Then we whittled that down to 24 operators who met all the criteria to participate and put them to the test last month in a series of heats.

“These eight finalists have shown outstanding operator skills throughout the WA competition and it was a tough choice to pick an overall winner, but Jake Myers managed to outperform the others to take the prize.”