Marni Kemp with his regional champion award and prizes. Photo / Supplied
Marni Kemp with his regional champion award and prizes. Photo / Supplied
Marni Kemp will have his, and his excavator’s, mettle tested in Feilding this week when he shows off his skills in a 13-tonne digger to represent Bay of Plenty at the CCNZ CablePrice National Excavator Operator Competition.
The Rotorua man is one of 13 champions from around New Zealand whose excavator skills will be pushed to the limit over a series of epic and enthralling challenges.
Some of the challenges will test real-world skills such as traversing a trench and digging around pipelines, while other more unique tasks may include slam dunking a basketball into a two-storey concrete pipe using an excavator’s bucket, and a slalom course.
Kemp said he wasn’t sure what would be on the cards at the competition, but he was feeling “pretty good” about it and “will just wait and see what happens when I get there.”
Manfeild Park will host the heavy metal showdown, which will take place on Friday and Saturday during the Central Districts Field Days.
Kemp works for Central Demolition and said his wide variety of previous roles and recent experience of working in demolition had prepared him well for the competition.
CCNZ chief executive Alan Pollard said the CCNZ CablePrice National Excavator Operator Competition was about celebrating the exceptional skill of New Zealand’s top excavator operators and inspiring the next generation to get behind the controls.
A novel test of excavator writing skills during the 2021 national finals. Photo / Supplied
“The more unusual tests of skill always bring the spectators but the competition also has a more serious side, with plenty of more traditional tasks such as trenching, operating around underground services, and tests of operator’s health and safety knowledge.”
One of the most challenging elements of the competition is the Z Energy One-day Job Challenge, which tests all aspects of an operator’s skillset and involves site planning and layout, as well as execution, for a task such as constructing a house foundation.
New Zealand’s national excavator operator competition was founded in the mid-1990s by CCNZ Manawatu Branch as the brainchild of local contractors Graeme Blackley and Grant Smith.
Pollard said it was “one of the most unique spectacles New Zealand has to offer”.
“The operators at our national finals are the elite, the ‘SAS’, if you like, of our excavator operating community.”
He urged people to turn out in force to show their support for the competitors; many of whom have been involved in the response to Cyclone Gabrielle.
“Excavator operators play a critical role in nearly all of our country’s biggest projects. Not only do they transform the terrain for roading and water projects, but they also build stop banks to defend against flooding and assist with the clean-up when the worst weather hits.”
He said there was more demand than ever for civil construction workers and there had never been a better time for job seekers to enter the industry and make a real difference to communities in need.
An EPIC Careers Hub will be at the Central Districts Field Days from Thursday to Saturday, next to the excavator operator competition course. The careers hub will feature a VR excavator, truck driving and traffic control experiences, a Connexis digital simulator, an excavator experience, floor talks from infrastructure construction workers and opportunities to meet and be hired by civil infrastructure construction companies.
The CCNZ CablePrice National Excavator Operator Competition has been running since 1994. Despite a break last year due to Covid-19, the captivating event is still going as strong as the lift strength of a Hitachi ZAXIS-135 excavator.
