TRACK & WHEEL TOP EXCAVATOR OPERATOR SET TO DEfEND NATIONAL TITLE In March 2010, champion digger driver Brett Hollyman retained the title of New Zealand’s number one multi-skilled operator, winning the National Excavator Operator Competition finals for the second year running. Brett, from Clive, was the first ever Hawke’s Bay winner and is only the second champion to successfully defend the title in the competition’s 15-year history. Brett is a manager with Contrax Technical Services, and defeated 12 other regional champions from around the country at the two-day event held at the Field Days in Feilding, Manawatu in early March 2010. “I’m delighted to have brought the title home for Hawke’s Bay two years in a row,” he says. “It was a very tough competition, with more competitors than last year. “The organisers sprang some surprises on us but I just went in to it focused on what needed to be achieved and it worked out.” After his first win last year, Brett celebrated until 5am – this year it was 4am enjoying “some live music and a few beers” with some of his fellow contestants. The event, organised by the New Zealand Contractors’ Federation, is famed both for the rigorous nature of the competition – designed to test operators’ skills to the utmost – and for some of the more unusual tasks finalists are required to do. This year that included using the Hitachi 12-tonne excavator to pick an egg up out of sand and balance it on the bottom of a small plastic cup, and picking up a half round wooden post and balancing it on top of a road cone – where it had to stay for at least 10 seconds. Brett’s success is even more remarkable given that the 12-tonne Hitachi machines, provided for the competition by major sponsor <strong>CablePrice</strong>, are much larger than the three-tonne machines he uses at work. The Federation’s executive officer, Malcolm Abernethy, says Brett, who also won the One Day Job category of the competition, was a very worthy winner; “Brett is a very modest, self-effacing sort of person but he just stands out when he is competing. He is very confident and thorough, has very extensive knowledge and just did everything right.” Runner-up was 2008 National Champion Brian Hoffmann, representing Auckland, who also won the Truck Loading category. Brian is the only other contestant to have won the trophy consecutively, having also won it in 2007. Third place went to Myles Carson, the Wellington regional champion, who won the police-sponsored Load Security section. As well as many practical challenges, including building a construction project from scratch, finalists were required to demonstrate their planning and project management abilities, show extensive knowledge about the machine, health and safety measures and land transport regulations, and deal with emergency first aid and environmental scenarios. With the 2010/11 competition already underway, Brett’s automatic right to defend his title will again be challenged by some of the country’s best operators in Manawatu in March 2011. Region Date Email Cell Gisborne 9 Oct 2010 gisborne@nzcontractors.co.nz 027 768 3675 Hawkes Bay 17 Oct 2010 hawkesbay@nzcontractors.co.nz 021 889 190 Canterbury 12 Nov 2010 james@jclasphalt.co.nz 021 999 457 Taranaki 20 Nov 2010 pds.admin@xtra.co.nz 0274452070 Northland 4 - 5 Dec 2010 fox.earthmovers@xtra.co.nz 027 224-0500 Otago 22 -24 Jan 2011 ross@waiholax.co.nz 03 417 8601 Bay of Plenty 12 Feb 2011 andrew@hickeycontractors.co.nz 0274 308 480 Auckland 18 - 20 Feb 2011 mark.gregory@hirepool.co.nz 027 284 3294 Wellington/ Wairarapa 26 Feb 2011 david@ccl.co.nz 021 243 6656 Manawatu 27 Feb 2011 manawatu@nzcontractors.co.nz 06 354 9998 Final 17 - 19 March 2011 service@nzcontractors.co.nz 0800 692 376 28 <strong>CablePrice</strong>
TRACK & WHEEL TRACK & WHEEL Get ready for the revolution – WITH THE NEW E-SERIES FORWARDERS AND HARVESTERS, LOGGING WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN. <strong>CablePrice</strong> 29
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