Auckland excavator operators compete for glory

13 Nov 2018

More than thirty of Auckland’s best excavator operators will pour tea, slam-dunk basketballs and even navigate an egg and spoon challenge with their massive machines at the Regional Excavator Operator Competition this weekend.

The annual competition will take place this weekend at the Big Boys Toys expo at ASB Showgrounds in Greenlane from 16-18 November in front of around 30,000 people.

Competition co-ordinator Roald Badenhorst from CCNZ Auckland Branch said this year’s event would be hotly contested, with defending regional champion Nick Cain returning to defend his title against competitors like the ‘legendary’ Brian Hoffmann, a repeat winner who had represented Auckland in the national competition multiple times.

Mr Badenhorst said spectators should look out for friendly rivalry between Kim Dixon and Shannan Bell, while up-and-coming 23-year-old Jake Alderson was expected to put on a show after winning the ‘Good Bugger’ award for competitive spirit in the 2017 event.

“This year’s competition is shaping up to be very exciting. There’s a massive amount of infrastructure work happening in Auckland right now, which means the skill level amongst the competitors is very high. It’s going to be a real spectacle.”

The competition is one of 10 held around the country to find New Zealand’s best excavator operator. The regional winners will battle it out at the Civil Contractors New Zealand’s 25th National Excavator Operator Competition at Central Districts Field Days in March 2019.

Simon Birchall of the event’s Platinum Sponsor CablePrice said his company was delighted to support the regional and national competitions. He said the events demonstrated what was possible with excavators, and how technology was transforming the industry.

CablePrice sponsors, provides and services the excavators for the three-day-long event. The machines have a minimum of 12 controls and are becoming increasingly sophisticated with GPS and satellite controls allowing excavators to assess how far to dig and where to dig, giving greater accuracy and avoiding underground utility services.

“It’s always great to see people step up and put their skills on show,” Mr Birchall said. “These tasks demonstrate the precision operators can achieve with the right equipment, and how they can navigate underground obstacles like drain pipes, gas pipes and electricity cables.”

Contestants would also be judged on the health and safety precautions they take, as well as their planning and foresight.

Mr Badenhorst said the competition was hosted at the Construction Zone, which was a great spectator event popular with families with young children. Children would have a chance to drive

‘Gerald, the CablePrice Digger’ – a 1.7 tonne Hitachi mini digger children over two years of age could drive with a supervisor for a gold coin donation. There would also be opportunities for grown-ups to try one of the competition challenges to raise funds for the Gut Cancer Foundation and fight gastro intestinal cancer.

As well as a place at the national competition, the winner will receive approximately $2000 worth of prizes, with prizes for second and third place as well as the Good Bugger Award, Non-CCNZ Member Prize and the Legacy Team Prize, which is awarded to the company with the most points across its competitors. All prizes are kindly donated by generous sponsors, including Before U Dig, CablePrice, Connexis, Hirepool, Enzed, First Gas, CivilShare, Humes, Global Survey, Total Lubricants, MIT, ICB Retaining & Construction, Contractor Magazine, Stellar Recruitment and Z Energy.

New Zealand’s civil construction and maintenance industry carries out approximately $12b of work annually, employing 60,000 workers. Excavator operators in Auckland work on significant projects including the Central Interceptor wastewater project, tunnels, motorways, and residential infrastructure to cater for Auckland housing demands.

Auckland excavator operators compete for glory

CATEGORIES

RELATED

Safety Alert: Protecting vulnerable road users around work sites

Safety alert - safe trenching

Safety alert: leg entrapment in hoe rotor

Updated safety alert - TTM and level crossing interface

Safety alert: Air excavation

Safety alert: worker injured after ingesting fuel

Safety alert: TTM and level crossing interfaces

Firth Certified Concrete

Manage Company

Kobelco New Zealand

n3

RB Recruitment

Hynds Pipe Systems

Infrastructure New Zealand

Commercial Hire NZ Ltd

SITECH NZ

Absolute Immigration NZ

Over and Out Communications

MIMICO NZ Ltd

MBP (NZ) Ltd

New Zealand Transport Agency

Central Group

Aptella

Brandt Tractor Limited

Northpine Ltd

ERoad Ltd

H.J. Asmuss & Co. Ltd

Marley NZ Ltd

Humes Pipeline Systems

Coninnova Limited

Youngman Richardson

Turners Group Ltd: Head Office/Auckland

beforeUdig

TDX Ltd

Teletrac Navman

Crediflex New Zealand Limited

ENZED

Advice Financial

Wirtgen NZ Ltd

AON New Zealand

Prime Fluid Management

Connexis

Holcim New Zealand Ltd

BNZ Partners

Liebherr New Zealand

Remarkable People Ltd

MATES In Construction

Geofabrics New Zealand Ltd

Doug the Digger

Vertical Horizonz NZ Ltd

UDC Finance

Komatsu New Zealand Ltd

Greenlight Insurance Brokers

AWF

Solo

Assignar

Site App Pro

Porter Group Limited

Infrastructure Sustainability Council

Westpac NZ Ltd

SAMI Bitumen Technologies Pty Ltd

RobLawMax Recruitment

Global Survey - Auckland

Commercial Vehicle Holdings

Norwood

TRIG Instruments

TR Group

SG Fleet

Portacom New Zealand Limited

AEL

Iplex Pipelines NZ

Franklin Smith Group

Terra Cat

Winstone Aggregates

OneStaff Limited

Reliance Reinforcing Limited

Terra Infrastructure Pty Ltd