If you need rescuing, Hawke's Bay man Blake McDavitt is who you'd want searching for you

Blake McDavitt tends to an injured person at Mt Ruapehu. Photo / Supplied

Puketapu resident Blake McDavitt's stellar work in some of the country's most serious search-and-rescue operations has been formally recognised in a ceremony at Parliament.

McDavitt, whose volunteering career with Search and Rescue stretches more than 25 years and as far south as Antarctica, was one of those on the scene of the Mangatepopo canyoning tragedy in 2008 that killed six students and a teacher from Elim Christian College.

On Wednesday he received a NZSAR Gold Award for Support Activity in Parliament at the New Zealand Search and Rescue Awards.

Blake McDavitt in his search-and-rescue gear on top of Mt Ruapehu. Photo / Supplied

"It is nice to be recognised for a career in Search and Rescue rather than a particular operation," McDavitt told Hawke's Bay Today.

"I've had a great support team of family and friends and I wouldn't have been able to do it without them."

McDavitt started volunteering 25 years ago with Turangi Search and Rescue, where river rescues were fairly regular.

"At the time I joined I was a fairly good white water paddler. I was asked to start a kayaking rescue team, but because the river gets so high kayaks weren't going to be enough."

He set up an initiative that saw SAR team up with local rafting companies between 1990 and 1995.

Around 1995 he also became the training co-ordinator for the Turangi SAR group.

"There were some years where we attended about 50 callouts regarding fishermen caught out and then some years, like 2004, where we had approximately four."

Not all rescues ended well, and for McDavitt the canyoning tragedy stands out.

Those killed were part of a 40-strong group from Auckland's Elim Christian College participating in an outdoor adventure course at the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre (OPC). McDavitt helped pull the last two bodies from the Mangatepopo Stream.

McDavitt said he refused to let tragedies get the better of him.

"My coping mechanism is that, regardless of how we find the lost and injured, I am returning people to their families and for that they are grateful. They get closure."

In 2001 he became a member of the Ruapehu Alpine Rescue Organisation (Raro) while staying on with the Turangi SAR group.

In 2009 he became a public safety ranger for DOC at the Tongariro National Park.

He is currently the Training Officer for this group and a well-respected team leader, as well as a technical SAR specialist for Ruapehu Alpine Cliff Rescue.

For the past few years, since he moved to Hawke's Bay, his time has mostly been spent with Raro.

When Land Search and Rescue NZ established an advisory group on best practice for SAR in the back country, McDavitt in the company of experts in swift water rescue, alpine cliff rescue, cave and avalanche rescue, was unanimously voted to be its leader.

He is still in that role.

Under his guidance, the Back Country Technical Rescue Advisory Group (BTRAG)
has also gone from strength to strength.

One notable achievement of the group was writing the Human Longline Guidelines, which were adopted nationally and endorsed by the Civil Aviation Authority.

In 2003 and again in 2006, he led the New Zealand Search and Rescue team based
in Antarctica. Last year he was seconded back to Antarctica for a three-month period.