The grand final for the National Forklift Championships hosted by the Australian Warehousing Association was a great success with 18 finalists competing at The Safety Show & Sydney Materials Handling on 28 October. The level of competition and contestant's knowledge and skill was much higher than last year.

Mark Gray from Woolworths defended his 2009 title and was again the 2010 champion. Pamela Windsor from Woolworths was the champion female with only one point difference between the male and female champions. Pamela's husband who was also a finalist had to withdraw due to a recent car accident that prevented him from competing. This was the first time a husband and wife team were finalists. Anita Maliu, the 2009 female champion came 2nd this year. Contestants travelled from various states representing either their companies or themselves to be a potential champion.

Each finalist after completing their knowledge and skills test progressed to the ten pin bowling component. This event challenged everyone and provided a significant amount of interest. The winner was Kingi Turnbull from Bevchain joint venture. He received a scaled model forklift for his efforts.

The organisers were particularly impressed by the number of senior managers who came to cheer on and support their companies' finalists. All have said that they enjoyed the event and will be a strong contestant in 2011.

The trophies were presented by Paul Bennett General Manager of Adaptalift Hyster who thanked the contestants for their participation and the organisers for the opportunity to be part of this growing Australian event. It is planned that New Zealand will be included in 2011 as a first step in expanding the event to an Asia Pacific challenge.

Visit www.forkliftcomp.com.au or www.auswa.asn.au