Samantha Briley is the Canadian Pacific Railway's National Women's Spike Driving Champion - Date/Photographer unknown.

11 October 2012

Local Woman Hammers Out Railway Championship

Calgary Alberta - A local railway employee has hammered the competition and been named a National Rail Spike Driving Champion.
 
Scugog resident Samantha Briley was recently crowned the Canadian Pacific Railway National Women's Spike Driving Champion, in a late-September contest held in Calgary, Alberta, drawing competitors from across North America.
 
No stranger to the contest, Ms. Briley has entered the national competition twice previously, winning the title in 2008. The competition has been in place since 2005, with the women's division added in 2007, said Ms. Briley.
 
The timed contest involves participants driving two rail spikes into a tie in two rounds of competition, with the time of both rounds averaged out and compared amongst the competitors. Ms. Briley took first place with a time of 26.41 seconds.
 
"It feels really great to win again," said Ms. Briley. "I haven't won since 2008 and in 2010 I lost by half a second."
 
Although only three women competed in the national round, Ms. Briley was up against 15 competitors in the Eastern Canada (the national round is divided into Eastern, Western, and Central Canada, including participants from the United States) divisional round held in August. First prizes for the divisional and national championships are $300 and $500 respectively.
 
An employee of Canadian Pacific since 2007, Ms. Briley was introduced to the spike-driving competition by co-workers.
 
"That was my job, spike driving," said Ms. Briley. "I was good at what I did so I went for it. There's no extra training involved, I just do my job."
 
Blake Wolfe.