John Irish, winner of the national “Are You Carhartt Tough” contest, was awarded a grand prize trip for two to the kickoff of the 2011 Stihl Timbersports Series, the nation’s premier lumberjack competition, at the Oregon State Fair. He and his wife, Mari, attended the event from Aug. 26-28, where they received VIP treatment, including backstage passes and free merchandise from STIHL and Carhartt.
Cintas Corp., a North American uniform supplier, created the contest in conjunction with a new partnership between Carhartt, a manufacturer of work wear, and the rollout of the new Carhartt Rental Workwear line. Irish was selected based on an essay entry that described his qualities of “Carhartt Toughness” – strength, dependability, resilience and ruggedness. For a full year, hundreds of essays were collected through a contest Website.
Irish was selected as a quarterly finalist in August 2010, and public Internet voting secured his position as a grand prize winner in March 2011. Working long days as a truck driver delivering shingles to construction sites, Irish’s job requires him to catch and lift thousands of pounds per day while balancing on steep rooftops.
