CALGARY, Alberta (July 31, 2008) — It all came down to just 12 seconds in one of the closest National School Transportation Association International school bus driver competition in recent memory at the Calgary Fire Academy course.

Cindy Shipley, a First Student school bus driver from Colorado, and fellow First Student driver Mark Koelbl of Alberta both scored 642 out of 725 possible points in the conventional school bus category. Judges had to break the tie by looking at the average time, and Shipley’s 1:07 bested Koelbl’s 1:19. Third place winner, faster time of 57 seconds, but fell three points of being eligible for the tiebreaker.

In the transit category, Chris Fritz of Academy District #20 Schools in Colorado narrowly beat out Norm Turner of California’s Dixie School District for first place with a score of 623 to Turner’s 620. Don Hal Haney of Kent School District in Washington took third with a score of 600.

In the small bus category, David Field of First Student in Ontario and Jim McMinn of Durham School Services in Kansas both finished in 1 minute 15 seconds, but Field took first by scoring 241 despite not winning a single point in the parallel category. Brent Carman of California’s Morgan Hill Unified School District took third with 503 points in just 54 seconds.