Mud flew at Mystery Creek at the end of last week as the heavyweights of Waikato and Bay of Plenty excavator operating competed for regional titles and a spot at next year’s CCNZ CablePrice National Excavator Operator Competition grand final.

The three-day regional event at Fieldays on 12-14 June saw 22 elite excavator operators compete for the Waikato crown and 11 vie for the Bay of Plenty title. They were tested on a wide array of tasks, from health and safety knowledge to quirkier crowd-pleasing tests of precision such as dunking a basketball and opening a beer using their Hitachi machines.

Competition lead judge James Lux said the skill on display was exceptional, with the “young guns” giving some of the more seasoned operators – including last year’s Bay of Plenty champion John Rohloff – a run for their money. 

Last year’s Waikato winner Michael Brown moved to the judging team this year, prompting an influx of operators to enter the Waikato field in hopes of nabbing the crown, Lux said.

“The rumble of the machines and our prime position at Fieldays brings a big crowd and adds to the pressure, but the operators love it.

“The wet conditions meant we had to alter the course a bit but that just gave us the chance to introduce some entirely new challenges.”

Those new challenges included the ‘Over-Under’, requiring operators to pick up wood and lift it over a wire, before bringing it back under the wire, and the ‘Log Squeeze’, which involved operators navigating their machines through a log course without knocking anything over.

An eye-catching ‘Marble Run’ was also included, challenging operators to push a ball along a guard rail using an attachment on their excavator arms, before nudging it into a pipe and making it roll back down to the starting position.

Bay of Plenty competitor Ben Patterson said the weather and some of the new challenges made this year’s event one of the trickiest yet. 

“Visibility is harder in the wet, and some of those new challenges shocked me, but I love it.” 

The Papamoa local and Bay Civil employee has competed in the regional competition for three years straight, finishing third in 2023 and second last year. He said the rain didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd, which added to the atmosphere.

“I love coming and feeling the energy – I thrive off it.”

Patterson and other competitors now face a nervous two-week wait for the final results, which will be revealed at separate regional award ceremonies for Bay of Plenty and Waikato operators on 26 June. 

Once confirmed, the champions of Waikato and Bay of Plenty will join winners from 10 other regional excavator operator competitions across New Zealand at the national finals, which will be held in Feilding in March 2026, during the Central Districts Field Days.

Lux said as well as providing an enjoyable day out for operators, the regional excavator operator competition at Fieldays aimed to inspire the public to learn more about the civil construction industry and consider excavator operating as a career option. 

A ‘Have a Go’ dig for adults and a mini dig for children ran alongside the competition course at Fieldays for members of the public who wanted to try their hand at machine operation.

“Those ‘have a go’ events are really popular – who wouldn’t want to jump into an excavator if given the chance?”

Lux also acknowledged the sponsors of this year’s CCNZ CablePrice Waikato and Bay of Plenty regional excavator operator competitions. 

National competition sponsors were CablePrice, Hirepool, Attach2, Connexis, Firstgas, Humes, beforeUdig, Civil Trades, Doug the Digger and Contractor Magazine. 

Regional sponsors included CTLNZ, Stormwater 360, Connell Contractors, King Drilling, Brian Perry Civil, Schick Civil Construction, Downer, Fulton Hogan, Success Group and HEB Construction, Waikato Post Rammers, Hautapu Pine and Carters Waikato.