After nearly a decade of dominating the competition, Brian Woytkiw finally gave up the National King Miner contest crown to Josh Forest over Nickel Days weekend.
This year’s contest featured 21 competitors, who duked it out in 11 different events on June 24, from the early morning to late afternoon.
The results of the competition were announced inside the C.A. Nesbitt arena the following day and, to many people’s surprise, Forest walked away with the top prize.
Forest ended up claiming first place in three different events (jackleg drilling, hand mucking and pipefitting) and cracked the top four in all but three events. Woytkiw grabbed a second-place finish, while third and fourth place went to Tyrell Hall and Jason Stykalo, respectively.
All four of these men competed together during Saturday’s team event and came out on top in this competition.
The overall results of the contest came as a surprise to many onlookers, as Woytkiw has kept a tight grasp on the King Miner crown since 2007, only giving up the top prize to Joe Burton in 2008 during that time span.
However, Forest is no stranger to this contest, having competed in 10 previous King Miner contests. He grabbed a third-place finish in last year’s competition.
“The last couple years I came pretty close and I figured, at the end of the day, I could have given it that extra 10 per cent,” he said. “And I figured I gave it everything I had yesterday. It paid off, obviously.”
Even thought he took home the top prize in 2017, Forest isn’t content with resting on his laurels and fully intends on entering next year’s competition.
“There’s always room to improve and there’s a lot of young guys coming up here and they’re improving every year too, so it’s not going to get any easier.”
As for Woytkiw, he still took home his fair share of prize money, placing in six of the 11 events, and was perfectly content with handing the title of King Miner over to a contender like Forest.
“It’s been an honour to train and compete with this guy, and I’m glad he won,” he said.
2017 National King Miner Contest winners
National King Miner
King Miner: Josh Forest
First runner-up: Brian Woytkiw
Second runner-up: Tyrell Hall
Third runner-up: Jason Stykalo
Team event winners
Josh Forest, Brian Woytkiw, Tyrell Hall, Jason Stykalo
Rookie prize
Scott Meuse
Stoper drilling
First prize: Tyrell Hall
Second prize Josh Forest
Third prize: Brian Woytkiw
Fourth prize: Justin Lefebvre
Jackleg drilling
First prize: Josh Forest
Second prize: Tyrell Hall
Third prize: Marc Klym
Fourth prize: Richard Patterson
Crib building
First prize: Scott Kennedy
Second prize: Justin Lefebvre
Third prize: Josh Forest
Fourth prize: Scott Meuse
Log Sawing
First prize: Lyle McKay
Second prize: Jason Stykalo
Third prize: Scott Kennedy
Fourth prize: Clinton Morrisseau
Ladder climbing
First prize: Brian Woytkiw
Second prize: Scott Kennedy
Third prize: Richard Patterson
Fourth prize: Tyrell Hall
Hose mending
First prize: Tyrell Hall
Second prize: Josh Forest
Third prize: Brian Woytkiw
Fourth prize: Alex Martin
Hand mucking
First prize: Josh Forest
Second prize: Clinton Morrisseau
Third prize: Scott Kennedy
Fourth prize: Jason Stykalo
Steel packing
First prize: Scott Kennedy
Second prize: Clinton Morrisseau
Third prize: Brian Woytkiw
Fourth prize: Josh Forest
Bolting
First prize: Tyrell Hall
Second prize: Josh Forest
Third prize: Alex Martin
Fourth prize: Brian Woytkiw
Pipefitting
First prize: Josh Forest
Second prize: Jason Stykalo
Third prize: Brian Woytkiw
Fourth prize: Scott Kennedy
Nail driving
First prize: Leif Forsyth
Second prize: Jason Stykalo
Third prize: Scott Kennedy
Fourth prize: Clinton Morrisseau
