Chisholm TAFE student Blake McDonald has been crowned Victoria’s top welder at the third annual Welding Triathlon at the Frankston campus last month.
Run in conjunction with Welding Australia, the triathlon attracted 12 competitors ranging from apprentices studying for their Certificate III in Engineering Fabrication to professional welders and instructors. All were required to demonstrate their skills across three timed events and were judged on speed, accuracy, skill and adherence to welding procedures.
“I’ve competed the last two years and came last in 2017,” 24-year-old Blake said. “I was determined to do better this year — I’ve done a full 180.”
The competitors used a range of Chisholm’s industry-standard equipment, including state-of-the-art Kemppi welding machines for both MIG and TIG/ARC and a Lincoln virtual reality welding machine. “I found it challenging this year having to use the Lincoln VR machine,” Blake said. “That was a surprise.”
Fellow Chisholm students Daniel Harrison and Gary Horn finished second and third.
Event organiser and Chisholm teacher Rodney Bentvelzen said this year’s event was the biggest so far and he was already excited about what 2019 would bring. “Welding and manufacturing in Australia demands high-quality tradespeople to stay competitive and has traditionally been very manual,” Rodney said. “As welding machine technologies adapt via programming and inverter power sources, welding has become a highly technical skill.”
For course information, go to Chisholm.edu.au