Corey Olson was named the Wellington Wairarapa Region's top excavator operator at a regional meeting on Tuesday 25 February following an intense day of competition at the Civil Contractors New Zealand CablePrice Wellington Wairarapa Regional Excavator Operator Competition on Saturday.
Crowds had flocked to Brewtown in Upper Hutt to witness 12 top operators from companies across the region execute feats of skill and focus, including the egg challenge, in which competitors use a 13-tonne excavator to place an egg on a road cone without breaking it.
Olson, of Featherston-based Black Axe Contracting, earned top spot and the right to represent the region at the national final in Feilding next month, when the final results were announced to the local industry at the CCNZ Wellington Wairarapa Branch Meeting on 25 February.
Also winning the regional championship in 2023, Olson played it cool after the announcement he had won.
"I'm a little bit more confident [coming into nationals] this year. I've got a fair idea of what I'm getting into this time, so I will brush up on a few things, and we'll see how it goes."
He was confident he had made a quality run in the regional competition, in his fourth time entering the regional event.
“I got the egg challenge this year, so that makes it three years in a row. I nailed the fencepost challenge as well.”
Now a seasoned operator with fifteen years behind the controls, Olson started his career travelling the country constructing golf and motocross courses, and recently founded Black Axe Contracting as a landscaping business, after several years working for E Carson and Sons.
Other top three finishers were Jamie Nicholas and Hohepa Whare, both from local water contractor Construction Contracts Limited (CCL). Whare was commended by the judges for his commitment to the site, working tirelessly to clean up following the competition.
Nicholas had a smooth run on the competition, only missing the slam dunk challenge and spilling a drop on the teapot pour.
“I went OK’, he said, “much better than last year. I went well on the water transfer and the teapot pour, didn’t spill too much, but I missed the basketball.”
Last year’s champion Bronson Jones of Bryce O’Sullivan Contracting (BOSCO) did not return to defend his regional title after a worthy tilt at the national title in 2024, in which he finished fifth in the country.
“I reached a pinnacle for myself last year, and I was very content with what I achieved. I feel like we have a lot of talented people that could go further, so I wanted to open it up for them so they could take the opportunity.”
Despite stepping back from the controls, Jones and his teammates Reina Savage and Johnny Peniata from BOSCO won this year’s barrel filling competition once more, beating 2019-22 champions Daniel Renshaw Drainage by the barest of margins, and coming away with a third win in as many years to win the coveted chrome shovel trophy.
Peniata, a first-time competitor in the barrel filling competition, said "it was an awesome day, it's good to be able to show off our skillset. And it's a good reason for the family and the public to come support and see what's going on in our world."
“It was a beautiful Wellington day, and it’s a fun day out for the crowd” said CCNZ Wellington Wairarapa Branch Chair Dave Philipson.
“The operators have great skills, but not many of them do these sorts of things in front of a crowd on a daily basis. It really pushes them to hone their skillsets and take pride in the great work they do day-in, day-out.”
Among many other crowd-pleasing tests of operators’ precision at the competition were challenges requiring competitors to paint, flip and stack tyres, dunk basketballs and pour beverages using their excavators. There was also a truck-loading challenge, and an ‘electric wire’ challenge, where operators navigated a hoop to and fro without it touching the wire.
The regional competition also included more serious theory-based tests, requiring operators to demonstrate health and safety and first aid knowledge, proper use of personal protective equipment, hazard identification, and startup and shutdown protocols.
The sponsors for this year’s CCNZ CablePrice Wellington Wairarapa Regional Excavator Operator Competition were CablePrice, CCNZ Principal Business Partner Hirepool, Attach2, Connexis, FirstGas, Humes, Brewtown, Bryce O’Sullivan Contractors, Construction Contracts Limited, Daniel Renshaw Drainage, E Carson and Sons, Goodman Contractors, Juno Civil, Mico, Milwaukee, Sierra Delta Civil, Total Siteworks and Whiting Financial.
Twelve winners from regional excavator operator competitions across New Zealand qualify for the national finals. Now in its 31st year, the CCNZ CablePrice National Excavator Operator Competition takes place in Feilding in March, during Central Districts Field Days.
Top 3: CCNZ CablePrice Wellington Wairarapa Regional Excavator Operator Competition (in alphabetical order)
- Corey Olson – Featherston – Black Axe Contracting
- Hohepa Whare – Hutt Valley – Construction Contracts Limited
- Jamie Nicholas – Hutt Valley – Construction Contracts Limited
L-R Branch Chair Dave Philipson, Judge Mike Smith, Corey Olson, Hohepa Whare, Jamie Nicholas and competition organiser Daniel Renshaw
Jamie Nicholas of CCL digs into the truck loading challenge
Barrel filling winners Johnny Peniata, Bronson Jones and Reina Savage of BOSCO
Crowds look on at the competition course