Jim Willingham

Hillsboro Man Earns 'Fastest Squeegee' Title

Friday, March 30, 2007

By Susan Gordanier

The Hillsboro Argus

Tim Hunter has a goal.

The owner of Gleaming the View, a Hillsboro-based window cleaning service, wants the title of fastest window cleaner in the world to return to the United States - and he wants to be the one to win it back.

Hunter has already made a start toward this mission. In an unofficial competition held March 23 in Vancouver, Wash., Hunter earned the right to be called the Portland metro area's fastest window cleaner.

The contest was held at the Boys and Girls Club of Southwest Washington, a site Hunter described as having "nice windows - and enough parking."

Appearing at the event was Jim Willingham, the current U.S. Squeegee Speed Champion - and the man who lost the international competition to Franck Lauret, of France, during the International Window Cleaning Association's 2007 convention February in Nashville, Tenn.
Willingham actually took third place at Nashville, behind Takeo Sato, of Japan. During his Vancouver appearance, he demonstrated new window-cleaning technologies and took on challengers from Northwest window cleaning firms, some from as far away as Seattle and Eugene. The timed races required each contestant to clean two 4-by-4 foot windows as quickly and cleanly as possible.

"He had been practicing all morning, but I went up there cold," Hunter said of Willingham. Still, the Hillsboro business owner, armed with washbar and squeegee, turned in the best time of the day: 16.5 seconds. He said his time was actually faster, but he was "dinged" 1.5 seconds for leaving some streaks on the glass.

For professional use, when Hunter has enough time to turn in streakless performance, he recommends the cleaner Glass Gleem 4. The product requires special order; it's not available locally.

Hunter may have to order extra: He needs to get in a lot of practice before the 2008 ICWA convention in February when he can make his run for the world title.

Besides window cleaning, Gleaming the View also offers roof and gutter cleaning and pressure washing. For more information, call 503-430-7792 or visit www.GleamingTheView.com.

2007 World's Fastest Window Cleaner

Window Cleaning champ streaks to a halt in Vancouver

KGW.Com Northwest NewsChannel 8

12:33 PM PDT on Monday, March 26, 2007

By DREW CARNEY, kgw.com Staff

America’s Fastest Window Cleaner streaked through Vancouver, Washington on Friday, March 23rd, in an effort to find the fastest window cleaner in the Vancouver-Portland Metro area.

A race to determine the fastest window cleaner in the Portland-Vancouver Metro area was held Friday morning, March 23rd in Vancouver, WA.

Jim Willingham, of Lubbock, Texas, is also the reigning U.S. Squeegee Speed Champion, a Water-Fed Pole cleaning expert, and the original founder and past president of the International Window Cleaning Association (IWCA).

His Friday morning pit stop in Vancouver was part of a West Coast tour where Willingham has been demonstrating various window-cleaning systems to professional window cleaners.

Watch Drew Carney go 1-on-1 with America's Fastest Window Cleaner.

Friday’s demonstration took place at the Boys and Girls Club of Southwest Washington, in the Hazel Dell section of Vancouver. It was followed by a race to determine a local window-cleaning champion. That honor went to Tim Hunter, owner of "Gleaming the View" window cleaning services in Hillsboro, OR.

In February, Willingham captured third place in the World’s Fastest Window Cleaner Championships, finishing behind only France's Franck Lauret and Japan’s Takeo Sato. Willingham was previously listed in the Guinness Book of World’s Records for his window cleaning accomplishments.

He’s also known in the industry for teaching safe methods of window cleaning.

Willingham himself survived an accident 20 years ago, when his five-story-high scaffolding broke. His efforts in the name of window cleaning safety earned him a lifetime achievement award from the International Window Cleaning Association last month.

The International Window Cleaning Association (IWCA) is a non-profit association committed to raising the standards of professionalism within the window cleaning industry.

For more information, you can contact the IWCA directly at 1-800-875-4922 or visit them online at http://www.iwca.org/.

Safety Harness Saves Window Washer

Toronto Star

Mar 28, 2007 11:48 AM Betsy Powell Staff Reporter

A window washer says he was “lucky today” after an accident in Don Mills left him dangling by a safety harness five storeys above the ground.

Giorgi Samkharadza was cleaning windows at a highrise on Havenbrook Blvd, near Don Mills Road and Highway 401, when the scaffolding on which he and another man were standing plunged two storeys at about 9:30 a.m.

While his co-worker scrambled to safety on a nearby balcony, Samkharadza was left hanging by his safety harness for about 30 minutes.

When fire crews arrived and raised a ladder, a seemingly nonplussed Samkharadza climbed to the ground.

"Something went wrong," he said with a shrug after shaking his rescuers' hands.

Paramedics examined both window washers, neither of whom was injured.

Samkharadz, who has been washing windows for six years, said today's incident wouldn’t stop him from continuing his high-level work.

Witness Gary Budgell said he was in the midst of morning maintenance chores when he heard a loud crash. When he looked up, he saw the upended platform and a man hanging from a safety harness.

He said Samkharadz seemed undisturbed by the incident, even as he dangled high above the ground. "He wanted me to take his picture," Budgell said.

What Exactly is a Window Cleaner?

It's blue, it's in a spray bottle, it's mostly water, blue dye, and ammonia (with a little detergent thrown in). Is that your idea of a window cleaner? Read Wickipedia's defination. It may just surprise you that traditional window cleaning methods don't really remove dirt from windows. If you get your window cleaner from a bottle, you may just be smearing windows by relocating the dirt.