The 2014 SPEC MIX BRICKLAYER 500® Regional tour goes to Seattle

Phil Evans beat out the rest of the competition

By Don Dodroe

The 2014 SPEC MIX BRICKLAYER 500® Regional Competition for Washington was held at the Western Washington Masonry Training Center in Seattle, WA on August 8th. Four teams of brick masons and tenders gave their best to earn a spot in the 2015 SPEC MIX BRICKLAYER 500 National competition held in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is there where they will compete for over $100,000 in cash and prizes including a new 2014 Ford F-250 XLT truck.

Phil Evans, a mason with R&D Masonry, Marysville, WA and his mason tender (and son) Brenden Evans beat out the rest of the competition to take home the champtionship. His net count of 457 brick got the job done. Not only did first place carry the opportunity to compete in the 2015 SPEC MIX BRICKLAYER 500 in Las Vegas for Phil and Brenden, but it also came with $600 cash, trowels and a bag from Marshalltown. The second place prize of $350 went to the team from Fairweather Masonry, Jason Larimore and Dave Wieser. Larimore also secured the title of Best Craftsmanship and won another $350 and bag of prizes from Marshalltown. Ben Griffin and his tender Dennis Chessie, from Keystone Masonry held on for 3rd place. All bricklayers and tenders received cash prizes for their participation.

Once again, the SPEC MIX Bricklayer 500 Washington Regional was hosted by the Western Washington Masonry Trades, which oversees the local bricklayers apprenticeship and training program for Western Washington. The event sponsors included Mutual Materials who supplied CMU’s and brick respectively for the event. The trade center also hosted a Masonry Day for architects which included the bricklaying competition as part of the event. In pattern with the educational theme that the SPEC MIX Bricklayer 500 event organizers envision, architects were cultured on topics such as Brick and Structural CMU Design and Construction, as well as Waterproofing and Adhesive Mortars. Spider Rigging set up a display which included Betamax products, a Gold Level Sponsor as part of the Masonry Day. Multiquip, a platinum sponsor, supplied mixers and mortar tubs to accommodate the mixing of the SPEC MIX Portland Lime Sand used by all the Bricklayers.

Food was barbequed for all attendees and the audience competed in games such as bean bag toss for cash prizes and a heads/tails game where a high definition big screen Television was the grand prize.

Final Results

First Place

Mason – Phil Evans – 457 Brick Tender – Brenden Evans
R&D Masonry, Marysville, WA

SPEC MIX TOP CRAFTSMAN

Mason – Jason Larimore – 430 Brick Tender – Dave Wieser
Fairweather Masonry, Bellevue, WA

2nd Place

Mason – Jason Larimore – 430 Brick Tender – Dave Wieser
Fairweather Masonry, Bellevue, WA

3rd Place

Mason – Ben Griffin - 310 Brick Tender – Dennis Chessie Keystone Masonry, Yelm, WA

For more information on the SPEC MIX BRICKLAYER Regional Program call 888-SPECMIX or go to www.specmixbricklayer500.com.