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.