Manitoba honors top truck drivers at annual championships
Manitoba’s trucking industry recognized its top professional drivers and safety leaders during the Manitoba Trucking Association’s (MTA) annual Driver Awards Banquet held May 30 in Winnipeg.
The event followed the Professional Truck Driving Championship (PTDC), where drivers competed in vehicle inspections, written examinations and driving skills challenges.
Rodney Birdsbill of Allscape took home Grand Champion honors after posting the highest score of the competition in the Super-B category, finishing 118 points above the average score. He also received the Hal Bjornson Memorial Award for the highest overall score.
Other championship winners included Cody Briggs of Jade Transport as Top Rookie and Bison Transport took home the Top Team award.
First-place PTDC recipients representing Team Manitoba were Arshdeep Singh of XPO Logistics in the day cab tandem category, Prabjot Randhawa of Bison Transport in the tandem-tandem category, and Rodney Birdsbill of Allscape in the Super-B category.
Second-place finishers included Sergeii Linkevych of Bison in the day cab tandem category and Bison’s Carl Gauthier and Bruce McKechnie, in tandem-tandem and super-B categories, respectively. Meanwhile, XPO Logistics earned second place in the team standings.
Third-place honors went to Sam Ha of Core-Mark International, Cody Briggs of Jade Transport and Bison’s Doug McEwan, with Arnold Bros. Transport finishing third in the team competition.
The banquet also recognized recipients of the MTA-Inland Group Industry Excellence Awards, which honor professional drivers for their commitment to the industry, safe driving records, acts of heroism, and contributions to the community.
This year’s recipients were: David Friesen and Kirandeep Sohi of Day & Ross; Robin Penner and Ted Wachna of HyLife; Marcel Gosseye of KAG Canada; Edwin Klippenstein and James Mengistu of Steve’s Livestock Transport; Luzie Doerksen of Penner International; Matthew Kauenhowen of Trappers Transport; and Terry Walde of Searcy Trucking.
The CVSA Inspectors’ Competition Award was presented to Tejpaul Baidwan of Manitoba Motor Carrier Enforcement.
And Ted Wachna of HyLife was named the 2026 MTA-Volvo Trucks Canada Driver of the Year for Manitoba.
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