Reno Gazette-Journal

Saturday April 3, 1999, the 21st Intercollegiate Mining Championships were held on the UNR campus, despite a 2+ hour snow delay.

The Mackay team captured the overall title, with first place finishes in hand mucking, hand drilling, Swede sawing, gold panning, and surveying, and with second place finishes in the remaining two events, track stand and jackleg (machine) drilling.

We on the team wish to thank our sponsors, and all of those who gave us their time, their good wishes, and their support.

Mining students brave cold
International competition: Blizzard conditions in Reno stop events for three hours

Reno Gazette-Journal Sunday, April 4, 1999
By Anjeanette Damon

Braving blinding snow and biting wind, students from mining schools across the United States, Australia and Canada mucked dirt, panned gold and laid track Saturday in the International Intercollegiate Mining Competition in Reno.

The competition ground to a halt for three hours in blizzard conditions Saturday morning, but the teams were determined to finish the event.

"It just got worse, worse, worse," said Tom Donovan, whose family company helped organize the event and donated much of the material. "The winds were 40 mph and nobody could see what they were doing. It was ugly."

Participants ran home or to the nearest store for winter coats. Those competing in the gold panning events had to melt ice from their pans before swilling out brass nuggets.

Although the sun didn't break, the snow slowed enough to allow the event to continue as the Mackay School of Mines competed for its third consecutive title at the University of Nevada. Twenty-seven schools participated in seven events, which ran the gamut of underground mining skills, from hand-drilling holes for dynamite to pounding railroad ties to build a length of track.

"The only thing we don't do is the blasting," Donovan said. "It's the mining industry's version of a rodeo."

With hammers ringing, shovels flying and two-ton cars rolling, injuries are possible, Donovan said, holding up a scarred finger from a past competition.

While competing in the hand steeling event, where two participants take turns pounding a metal chisel into a rock with a four-pound hammer, his partner hit the flesh of Donovan's finger rather than the chisel. Despite flowing blood, the two finished the event.

"We try to do it as safely as possible," Donovan said. "It is possible to do damage to yourself. Smashed fingers and crushed knuckles are par for the course."

The tradition originated in the mining camps of the Old West and quickly became a small-town event for summertime holiday weekends.

The intercollegiate event began in 1978, when the universities of Idaho and Arizona wanted to settle who had the best mining skills.

"It's a blast," said Karl Krauter, a UNR natural resources graduate students. The event was his first. "It's a chance to take a break from school and work."

Although competition is fierce, friends are also made. "There is some intensive rivalries," said Joe Leising, a Mackay team member. "But it's a camaraderie type of thing."

Leising credited the teams' success to the coach for seven years, Craig Leedy. "He has put in a na enormous amount of hours," Leising said. "He's taught us everything we know."

In addition to the months of practicing for the event, the Mackay team also spent months organizing the event, finding donors for materials and building the event site. "To make it work you to go and hustle in the community," Donovan said. "it's an awful lot of leg work."

Click Here for the Official Site of the 1999 Mining Competition