THE MASTERS’ CHALLENGE

The Masters’ Challenge Event is the championship round of the competition. The top men and top women finishers from the preliminary round advance to the Masters’ Challenge to compete for the title of ITCC World Champion. The Masters’ Challenge is designed to judge the contestant’s overall productivity and skill with a rope and saddle in the tree. Each station requires the contestant to demonstrate the skills and abilities needed to perform safe and efficient tree work. This is a timed event, pre-determined by the judges, based on the difficulty of the tree and its stations. The various stations in this event represent work being done in and around the tree, such as pruning. Each station requires the contestant to demonstrate the skills and abilities needed to perform safe and efficient tree work.

The event format is as follows:

• The contestant starts from outside the arena, without any equipment installed in the tree.
• Once in the arena, the contestant must assess the tree, install a climbing system, and ascend the tree.
• The contestant must visit as many stations as he or she can, performing a specified task at each station.
• Each station is equipped with a bell or horn; the contestant must ring the bell or sound the horn before continuing to the next station.
• The contestant must descend from the tree and remove all equipment from the tree before time runs out.

STATION DESCRIPTIONS

The Handsaw Station – The contestant must:

• Reach the station
• Install his or her lanyard
• Call for “stand clear”
• Ring the bell with a handsaw

The Limb Toss Station – The contestant must:

• Reach the station
• Install the lanyard
• Call for “stand clear”
• Ring the bell with a handsaw
• Receive confirmation that all is clear from the head judge prior to throwing a limb at the target on the ground. Several limbs are located in a bucket at the station. The contestant is allowed three attempts to get a limb in the target.

The Limb Walk Station – The contestant must:

• Reach the station
• Install the lanyard
• Call for “stand clear”
• Ring the bell with a handsaw
• Leave the station without activating the buzzer. (Activating the buzzer indicates that the climber has put too much weight on the limb and not in the climbing system (the rope), which may be unsafe in the work environment).

SCORING

The Masters’ Challenge is worth up to 300 points. The judges score the contestant’s movements from the time s/he enters the arena until s/he returns to the ground and removes all equipment installed during the event.

Scoring for this event is based on:

Installation of the climbing line	18 Points.
Entry into the tree	15 Points
Completion of stations	60 Points
Descent and removal of gear	12 Points
Discretionary points from the judges	15 Points

No scoring points are awarded for any task not completed correctly or within the time limit. Time is only used in the event of identical scores. A mandatory 20-point deduction is given for failing to retrieve all equipment within the time limit. The overall winner of the competition will be the contestant with the highest point total in the Masters’ Challenge Event.

2023 ArborMaster TCC Climbing Kit Prize Package 

The Illinois Arborist Association is pleased to announce the 2023 ArborMaster TCC Climbing Kit Prize Package for the Tree Climbing Champion (TCC), held in conjunction with the chapter’s 2023 Tree Climbing Championship (TCC) event. 

This kit is being offered to each chapter champion (both man and woman, if applicable)! The package is intended to help equip the chapter representative(s) for the ISA’s International Tree Climbing Championship (ITCC) Competition. 

Each prize package includes: 

• Silky’s Zubat Professional 330mm Hand Saw
• Buckingham Mfg’s Tree Squeeze™ 2.0 & BuckBack Pro
• Greenworks Commercial Logo’ed 24-Can Double Pocket Cooler
• OREGON® Professional Maintenance Kit & OREGON® Logo’ed Backpack
• Vermeer Logo’ed 32oz Bubba Trailblazer Bottle – Double Wall Stainless Steel Thermal Bottle
• Portable Winch RopeWizer™ – The Easy Splice
• ArborMaster® – 50% savings for a 2-Day or 3-Day Hands-On Training Module

Sponsored by: