Once again, the best of the best was competing in the WorldSkills National Championships across a whole raft of trades and of course the automotive sector was focused on the Autobody Repair and Vehicle Painting categories, both of which were held at the Ultimo TAFE campus in Sydney.
According to Garry Clear, Head Teacher, the attitude of the competitors and the quality of their work was what really made the event a success. It was however, disappointing that there were a number of late withdrawals from the Autobody Repair competition. With only three competitors, Oskar Bloem, Matthew Brandt and Jamie Tilley, (all from New South Wales) fighting it out for a single medal, the winner of the Gold Medal was Matthew Brandt from Glendale TAFE. We of course first met Matthew when he was awarded the Regional Gold Medal at the Glendale TAFE Open Day in October last year.
In the Vehicle Painting category, there were seven competitors: Luke Alexander, Maxine Colligan, Kaine Corpuz, Amber Gabelich, Aiden Hasler, Kyle Little and Lional Stapleton (who we also met at Glendale TAFE when he was awarded his Regional Gold Medal). In a closely fought battle the medallists were: Gold – Kaine Corpuz, Silver – Maxine Colligan and Bronze – Amber Gabelich. However, due to WorldSkills’ strict age requirements, Kaine Corpuz will be ineligible for the international event in Russia.
The National Collision Repairer congratulates all competitors for reaching the national championships, the four medallists and of course Matthew and Kaine as the winners of the gold medals.
We also wish our next Skilleroos, Mathew Brandt and Maxine Colligan, who of course was inducted as a Future Leader of the Industry earlier this year, every success as they prepare for WorldSkills 2019.
Watch for the full report on this great event in the July issue of the magazine.