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Six-time reigning Power Pull champions, Rudolph & Sletten emerged victors at the Sixth annual Northern California Special Olympics Power Pull at California’s Great America on Saturday, July 19
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A Preston Pipelines “Men of Pipe” team member wrenching for every last surge of strength. The “Men of Pipe” finished in third-place.
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One of the members of The Dogs of War team fielded by Santa Clara-based Jos J. Albanese Construction hard-at-work en route to setting fast-time in the Concrete truck pull with a 7.79 elapsed time.
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By Robert Haugh
Tugging, straining and grunting while pulling tons of vehicular mass down hard pavement, dozens of philanthropic hard hatters, public safety officials and community members valiantly tried out dueling one another while fighting the clock in a test of strength, endurance and pride at the sixth annual Northern California Special Olympics Power Pull.
With themed team uniforms and team names like The Sledgehammers, The Dogs of War and Big Red, one would wonder if they were witnessing an epic professional wrestling battle royal or a day of fun, laughter, camaraderie and excitement. However, there’s no doubt that the Power Pull fell under the latter category, with the true winners being the Special Olympics athletes.
Though the competition was fierce, intense and ever competitive, all competitors were jubilant, even in defeat, knowing they helped in raising funds for SONC --- all while trying to dethrone six-time reigning Power Pull champions, Rudolph & Sletten at California’s Great America on Saturday, July 19.
Finishing within one-half second overall --- the top three teams made this Power Pull the closest in the event’s history.
Making a bold statement during the first round of “time trials,” The Dogs of War team fielded by Santa Clara-based Jos J. Albanese Construction set the pace by clocking in with a time of 8.01 seconds --- no, not in a ¼-mile sprint at the drag strip, but tugging the 38,000-pound Central Concrete truck filled with gravel.
However, the Albanese team waited only a few minutes for defending and six-time champs Rudolph & Sletten to blister their first-round time with a mark of 7.89.
Shadowing their first-round top score, The Dogs of War toppled the favorites Rudolph & Sletten once again with a 7.79 elapsed time.
With nearly two-dozen pulls completed, The Dogs of War took their early lead into the second set of pulls --- the 66,000-pound Fire truck filled with water. Even before the reigning champs and The Dogs of War attempted their second set of pulls, a determined and enthused orange-donned Preston Pipelines “Men of Pipe” team bolstered the “track” with an amazing 11.07 elapsed time in the first Fire truck pull ---which ended up being only two hundredths slower than Rudolph & Sletten’s 11.05 fast-time mark.
In determining “winners” of the event, averages are taken from the pulls of each vehicle, with the two averages combined to conjure each team’s overall time.
Knocking off the second-place Dogs of War by just eight hundredths of a second, Rudolph & Sletten claimed victory in the Power Pull for the seventh consecutive time. Coming home third, just a few tenths back was Preston Pipelining.
Other teams participating in the event were the Santa Clara County Department of Corrections, AAA, the Star One Credit Union “Athletes for Life,” Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety, Central Concrete, San Jose State University Police, Dolan Concrete and the Special Olympics Staff and Volunteers.
Special Olympics Northern California, Silicon Valley region serves over 2,200 local adults and children with developmental disabilities by providing year-round sports training and competition at no cost.
For more information about Special Olympics Northern California, visit
www.sonc.org or call 408-392-0170.
