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STOUGHTON -- Larry Donaldson and John McLain spend plenty of time near the top of 40-foot utility poles, but today there's a possible trophy in store for the work they do.

Donaldson, a journeyman lineman, and McLain, an apprentice lineman, will represent Stoughton Utilities at the Lineman's Rodeo hosted by the Municipal Electric Utilities of Wisconsin and held today in Stoughton's Mandt Park.

About nine teams of two electric utility workers each from around the state will compete in events such as pole top rescue, downed line repair, arrestor change out and elbow installation.

"It's not only doing what they need to do correctly and safely, but timing becomes part of it as well," Bob Kardasz, Stoughton utility director, said of the events.

The competition gives a perspective to what linemen do in their jobs, he said. "It's actually pretty interesting."

About 18 utility poles have been erected in Stoughton's Mandt Park for the competition -- some complete with power lines -- though nothing is energized, Kardasz said.

Donaldson and McLain have been practicing about seven hours a week for a month, perfecting the tasks they do every day and getting more experience in things they rarely do, such as pole climbing, which McLain describes as an "old art."

"Climbing for us is seldom," he said. But the skill is needed to work on a pole in someone's backyard where a truck with a bucket can't go, he said.

Donaldson and McLain competed in the rodeo, now in its third year, in 2007, and they didn't do as well as they would have liked.

"Last year was a learning experience," Donaldson said, adding he hopes this year's home-field advantage gives them an edge.

"I've practiced the most on the pole top rescue," Donaldson said. That's an event in which a lineman has to climb to the top of a utility pole and "rescue" or bring down a dummy -- an example of a situation where someone might have been hurt or electrocuted while working on a line.

Linemen are expected to complete this task in four minutes.

"It's something you practice, but something you never want to do," McLain said.

Most of the judging is based on the precision and accuracy in which the tasks are completed. If more than one team completes everything perfectly, speed is used as a tie-breaker.

And some of the experienced linemen are quite quick -- in a previous competition a lineman completed the pole rescue in a minute and a half, McLain said.

"Some people are just born to climb," Donaldson said.