GOLD DIGGERS - CablePrice
GOLD DIGGERS - CablePrice
GOLD DIGGERS - CablePrice
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TRACK & WHEEL<br />
TOP EXCAVATOR OPERATOR SET<br />
TO DEfEND NATIONAL TITLE<br />
In March 2010, champion<br />
digger driver Brett Hollyman<br />
retained the title of New Zealand’s<br />
number one multi-skilled operator,<br />
winning the National Excavator<br />
Operator Competition finals for<br />
the second year running.<br />
Brett, from Clive, was the first ever<br />
Hawke’s Bay winner and is only the<br />
second champion to successfully defend<br />
the title in the competition’s 15-year<br />
history.<br />
Brett is a manager with Contrax<br />
Technical Services, and defeated 12 other<br />
regional champions from around the<br />
country at the two-day event held at the<br />
Field Days in Feilding, Manawatu in early<br />
March 2010.<br />
“I’m delighted to have brought the title<br />
home for Hawke’s Bay two years in a row,”<br />
he says. “It was a very tough competition,<br />
with more competitors than last year.<br />
“The organisers sprang some surprises<br />
on us but I just went in to it focused<br />
on what needed to be achieved and it<br />
worked out.”<br />
After his first win last year, Brett<br />
celebrated until 5am – this year it was<br />
4am enjoying “some live music and<br />
a few beers” with some of his fellow<br />
contestants.<br />
The event, organised by the New<br />
Zealand Contractors’ Federation, is<br />
famed both for the rigorous nature of the<br />
competition – designed to test operators’<br />
skills to the utmost – and for some of the<br />
more unusual tasks finalists are required<br />
to do.<br />
This year that included using the<br />
Hitachi 12-tonne excavator to pick an<br />
egg up out of sand and balance it on<br />
the bottom of a small plastic cup, and<br />
picking up a half round wooden post<br />
and balancing it on top of a road cone<br />
– where it had to stay for at least 10<br />
seconds.<br />
Brett’s success is even more<br />
remarkable given that the 12-tonne<br />
Hitachi machines, provided for<br />
the competition by major sponsor<br />
<strong>CablePrice</strong>, are much larger than the<br />
three-tonne machines he uses at work.<br />
The Federation’s executive officer,<br />
Malcolm Abernethy, says Brett, who also<br />
won the One Day Job category of the<br />
competition, was a very worthy winner;<br />
“Brett is a very modest, self-effacing sort<br />
of person but he just stands out when he<br />
is competing. He is very confident and<br />
thorough, has very extensive knowledge<br />
and just did everything right.”<br />
Runner-up was 2008 National Champion<br />
Brian Hoffmann, representing Auckland,<br />
who also won the Truck Loading category.<br />
Brian is the only other contestant to have<br />
won the trophy consecutively, having also<br />
won it in 2007. Third place went to Myles<br />
Carson, the Wellington regional champion,<br />
who won the police-sponsored Load<br />
Security section.<br />
As well as many practical challenges,<br />
including building a construction project<br />
from scratch, finalists were required to<br />
demonstrate their planning and project<br />
management abilities, show extensive<br />
knowledge about the machine, health<br />
and safety measures and land transport<br />
regulations, and deal with emergency first<br />
aid and environmental scenarios.<br />
With the 2010/11 competition already<br />
underway, Brett’s automatic right to<br />
defend his title will again be challenged<br />
by some of the country’s best operators in<br />
Manawatu in March 2011.<br />
Region Date Email Cell<br />
Gisborne 9 Oct 2010 gisborne@nzcontractors.co.nz 027 768 3675<br />
Hawkes Bay 17 Oct 2010 hawkesbay@nzcontractors.co.nz 021 889 190<br />
Canterbury 12 Nov 2010 james@jclasphalt.co.nz 021 999 457<br />
Taranaki 20 Nov 2010 pds.admin@xtra.co.nz 0274452070<br />
Northland 4 - 5 Dec 2010 fox.earthmovers@xtra.co.nz 027 224-0500<br />
Otago 22 -24 Jan 2011 ross@waiholax.co.nz 03 417 8601<br />
Bay of Plenty 12 Feb 2011 andrew@hickeycontractors.co.nz 0274 308 480<br />
Auckland 18 - 20 Feb 2011 mark.gregory@hirepool.co.nz 027 284 3294<br />
Wellington/ Wairarapa 26 Feb 2011 david@ccl.co.nz 021 243 6656<br />
Manawatu 27 Feb 2011 manawatu@nzcontractors.co.nz 06 354 9998<br />
Final 17 - 19 March 2011 service@nzcontractors.co.nz 0800 692 376<br />
28 <strong>CablePrice</strong>