Best digger operators show off steady hands in Hastings

Connor Edwards, of Napier, painting at the Hawke's Bay East Coast Regional Excavator Operator Competition. Photo / Supplied

Move aside surgeons.

The best digger operators from throughout Hawke’s Bay gathered on Saturday to show off their steely nerves and steady hands.

The competition featured 12 of the region’s best digger operators executing a series of challenges in front of a crowd at Tomoana Hawke’s Bay Showgrounds in Hastings.

The three operators who finished top of the points standings were Tanya Claxton (Waipukurau), Shaun Truman (Hastings) and Connor Edwards (Napier), and an overall winner will be announced at an awards event next month. That winner will represent Hawke’s Bay at a national final in Fielding next year.

Competition organising committee chairman Mike Rogers said it was a great event.

“We’ve found our top three and one of the other highlights was Sean Bainbridge, in his early 20s and on his first outing on the competition,” he said.

“He was first on the course, didn’t get phased at all, and was one of only two to complete the egg-on-cone challenge, which required competitors to pick up an egg using their excavators and place it on top of a road cone.”

Other challenges required competitors to paint, stack rocks, dunk basketballs and pour beverages using their excavators.

There was a quirky golf-inspired task too, requiring operators to hit a ball into an upturned apple bin by striking it with their 13-tonne machines.

Hawke’s Bay’s top three excavator operators Connor Edwards (left), Shaun Truman and Tanya Claxton. Photo / Supplied

Shaun Truman doing the golf challenge at the Hawke's Bay East Coast Regional Excavator Operator Competition. Photo / Supplied

The competition is called the Civil Contractors NZ CablePrice Hawke’s Bay East Coast Regional Excavator Operator Competition and also featured a theory test.

Rogers said besdies providing a fun day out, the competition aimed to raise awareness of the skill involved in excavator operation and inspire other people to consider joining the civil construction industry.

Excavator operator and top-three finisher Claxton, who works as a forewoman for Higgins, said it was a good day of competition.

“I was a bit nervous, but it’s always good to challenge yourself and do something that scares you.”

She said the egg-on-cone challenge was the most challenging “and dinkiest” task on the day.