He qualified for the finals after taking top spot in the Hawke’s Bay East Coast regional competition in October last year. Perston works for Quality Roading and Services as a supervisor managing housing subdivision projects, but has been making time for plenty of excavator-skills practice since his regional victory to prepare for the national competition.
Civil Contractors New Zealand chief executive Alan Pollard said this year’s finals would feature some breathtaking new challenges that wouldn’t be revealed to competitors until they arrived in the arena on the event’s first day.
“The eye-catching tests of precision always bring the crowds but there’s a more serious side to the event as well, with plenty of traditional tasks such as trenching, operating around underground services, and tests of operators’ health and safety knowledge.”
He said the annual competition provided a chance to celebrate New Zealand’s excavator operators and inspire young people to consider careers in civil contracting.
“Whether it’s ageing pipe networks or demand for new roads, the infrastructure challenges we are facing across New Zealand are becoming increasingly acute. We need more machine operators and many other roles across the industry, and this is a great way to shine a spotlight on the talent required and the opportunities available in civil construction.”
The competition was founded in 1994 by CCNZ Manawatu branch as the brainchild of local contractors Graeme Blackley and Grant Smith.
“It’s amazing to think that this competition has now been around for longer than Super Rugby. It’s as Kiwi as they come and it would have to be one of the more unique spectacles our country has to offer,” Pollard said.
He encouraged people to visit the Central District Field Days to support the competitors, many of whom had been involved in building and maintaining roads and water pipes across the country or assisting with the recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle over the past year.
To celebrate the event’s 30th anniversary, a special exhibition showdown will take place alongside the official competition, with defending champion and three-time winner Troy Calteaux from Otago going up against Northland operator Gordon Fox — the only other person to have won the competition three times. While Fox won’t be part of the official competition, he will be there to set a benchmark for the other operators.
Other mainstays of the event will return, including the Z Energy One-day Job Challenge, which tests the full range of operators’ skills and involves site planning, layout and execution.
An EPIC Careers Hub will be set up next to the excavator operator competition course for the duration of the Central Districts Field Days for members of the public interested in trying excavator operation or exploring careers in the industry.
The careers hub will feature a truck-mounted excavator simulator, a virtual reality excavator experience, truck driving and traffic control experiences, a Connexis digital simulator, floor talks from infrastructure construction workers. It will also provide opportunities to meet
and be hired by civil infrastructure construction companies and opportunities to have a go on a real excavator, supported by an expert trainer.
