BECOME A MEMBER
Connecting New Zealand

Gareth Butcher crowned top Canterbury Westland excavator operator

14 Oct 2021


It was second time lucky for the winner of the 2021 CCNZ CablePrice Canterbury Westland Excavator Operator Competition. Gareth Butcher – a Christchurch local – took top honour at this year’s regional championships, held at Road Metals Quarry on 2 October.

Competing in the Experienced Class, he finished one ranking higher than his second placing last year. He saw off strong performances from Tim Tihema of Isaac Construction, who finished second, and Ben Beazley from Schick Civil Construction who finished third.

Competitors took on a wide range of practical challenges, as well as crowd-pleasing tests of precision, such as the Slam Dunk event, where contestants had to perform a tricky manoeuvre by slam dunking a basketball into a large concrete pipe using their excavator buckets.

“It was great to walk away with the title this year,” Mr Butcher said. “The Slam Dunk event was one of the trickiest tasks – I mucked it up when I competed in the regionals last year, so I was stoked to get it done this time round.”

Mr Butcher has worked for Texco New Zealand for more than 20 years, having got into excavating at around 20 years old. In his day to day, he works on a large variety of sites, from civil to commercial, which has given him a brilliant range of skills.

“I really enjoy machinery, so excavator operating is a natural fit for me.”

The competition also saw events for the Novice Class group and Truck Weight. In the Novice Class event, podium places went to William Mcilwrick from Fulton Hogan who took first place, followed by Ethan Stanbury from Johnston Civil in second, and Dan Rae from Fulton Hogan in third. Andy Waghorn from Johnston Civil was the winner of the Truck Weight event.

Mr Butcher will now represent Canterbury Westland at the 2022 CCNZ CablePrice National Excavator Operator Competition, taking place next year from 17 to 19 March at Central District Field Days, Manfeild Park, Feilding.

Photo: Contestants who took out first, second and third place in the various categories of this year's competition. Gareth Butcher (third from left) will represent Canterbury Westland at the national finals next year.

Check out the action here (thanks to Hamish Race of Schick Civil Construction for the video):

 

 

 

RELATED


Principal Business Partner
Core Associates
Major Associates
Southeys Group Auckland
H.J. Asmuss & Co. Ltd
Power Farming New Zealand Ltd
TLC Insurance Limited
Humes Pipeline Systems
Turners Group Ltd: Head Office/Auckland
Advice Financial
n3
Teletrac Navman
Westpac NZ Ltd
Commercial Hire NZ Ltd
Employment Hero
Assignar
Solo
Winstone Aggregates
Terra Cat
Manage Company
Central Group Forklifts & Trucks
TVH NEW ZEALAND
Doug the Digger
Geofabrics New Zealand Ltd
SAMI Bitumen Technologies Pty Ltd
TDX Ltd
New Zealand Transport Agency
Reliance Reinforcing Limited
Holcim New Zealand Ltd
Aptella
RobLawMax Recruitment
Parallaxx
Terra Infrastructure Pty Ltd
Mico New Zealand Ltd
Rettenmaier New Zealand Ltd
TRIG Instruments
Komatsu New Zealand Ltd
Portacom New Zealand Limited
Fluiconnecto Ryco New Zealand Ltd
First Gas
AEL
TR Group
MBP (NZ) Ltd
beforeUdig
CivilShare
John Deere Limited
Liebherr New Zealand
MATES In Construction
MIMICO NZ Ltd
AWF
Enviro NZ Services Ltd
Marley NZ Ltd
Vertu Equipment Limited
CSP Div of Fletcher Steel
Over and Out Communications
Youngman Richardson
Sheet Pile Ltd
ALH LTD
Brandt Equipment
Northpine Ltd
TotalEnergies NZ Ltd
Vertical Horizonz NZ Ltd
A B Equipment Ltd
SITECH NZ
Geosynthetic Partners International Ltd
Hynds Pipe Systems
Greenlight Insurance Brokers
AECOM New Zealand Limited
UDC Finance
Milwaukee Tool New Zealand
ENZED
Global Survey - Auckland
Wirtgen NZ Ltd
Firth Certified Concrete
The Drug Detection Agency
XCMG New Zealand
Steelgal NZ Ltd
Rimkus
Porter Group Limited
Absolute Immigration NZ
Prime Fluid Management
BNZ Partners
Franklin Smith Group
Kobelco New Zealand
Hydraulink Fluid Connecters Ltd
Infrastructure New Zealand
Checksafe Ltd
Brolube New Zealand
ERoad Ltd
Trade Me Jobs
RB Recruitment
Infrastructure Sustainability Council
Nulca NZ
Connexis
Blick

Login





Forgot password?
Create an Account