Shane shines in challenge victory

Shane Poole from Diamond Excavators has taken out the Queensland Final of the prestigious Caterpillar Global Operator Challenge (GOC) — and he did it on his own patch.

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The Queensland GOC finals were held at the Barbwire Springs Training Centre, home of Diamond Excavators. Images Prime Creative Media

The GOC finally made it to Queensland, with the state recently hosting the last leg of the Australian finals for 2025, pulling in a large number of observers to watch some of the region's best machinery operators in action. Competing against some of the best operators from Queensland and the Northern Territory, Shane delivered an outstanding performance on his home property, showcasing not only his exceptional skill behind the controls but also his deep connection to the land he works every day.

Diamond Excavators operates in Far North Queensland and is involved with numerous mining and civil projects.

Its extensive premises and demo site at Townsville has already been used for a couple of years by Cat dealer Hastings Deering for its Smart Iron Training Event, aimed at helping Cat operators hone their skills at operating the machines and understand the new technologies available.

The sessions have been so successful that Hastings Deering approached Shane to host the GOC event, designed to test operators' accuracy, speed, and safety across a series of real-world machine challenges.

All state winners will proceed to Japan for the Regional Semi-Finals in October, to compete against the best from the ANZP region. The top three from this stage move on next year to the Global Final in Las Vegas, where the world’s top operators go head-to-head, and one will emerge as the GOC Global Champion.

The winner is set to walk away with a prize of US$10,000 or an equal value trip for two to a location around the world where Caterpillar has a presence.

For Shane, the GOC Qld event was an opportunity to prove what decades of hands-on experience can achieve — and he did just that on his beloved Cat machines.