Not one, but three female regional champions are set to rumble onto the field for the Civil Contractors New Zealand CablePrice National Excavator Operator Competition, for the first time in its history.
The grand finale of 12 regional competitions is taking place at Manfeild Park in Feilding on 14-15 March during the Central Districts Field Days, putting finalists’ nerves of steel to the test as they go bucket-to-bucket for New Zealand’s ultimate excavator operator accolade.
The annual competition challenges the country’s best operators to complete crowd-pleasing feats like slam dunking a basketball, precisely pouring a cup of tea or digging precision trenches using their excavators. Basic skills are tested too, with health and safety awareness and operators’ ability to scope and plan a job making up a key part of the judging criteria.
Georgia Lyford from Canterbury Westland, Lydia Hill from Nelson Marlborough and Tanya Claxton from Hawke’s Bay East Coast make up the trio of women reshaping the line-up.
“It’s amazing to think our competition has not had a female finalist in its 31-year history, so to have three women amongst the 12 regional winners this year is a proud moment and really shows the changing face of the industry,” says Civil Contractors New Zealand Chief Executive, Alan Pollard.
Ms Lyford from Schick Civil Construction in Christchurch is the youngest of the trio and dedicated her qualifying win in Canterbury Westland’s regional to other young women.
“I’m only 23 so it will be cool to go to the finals in Feilding and prove to all the other young girls considering a career in civil construction that we can do it too,” she says.
Another trailblazer is Blenheim’s Ms Hill, who learnt how to operate excavators on her family’s farm when she was 14 years old. She has been honing her skills ever since, including on large projects in her region like the new Whale Trail from Picton to Kaikōura. She works for Elite Excavations, and qualified by winning the Nelson Marlborough of the competition. She says it it “mindboggling” that women have never competed at the nationals before: “I’m super excited – the boys have got to watch out this year.” Waipukurau local, Ms Claxton says she is looking forward to “showing the boys that the girls can do it” at the nationals. Currently working as a foreperson for Higgins, she expects the nationals to be “next level” compared to the Hawke’s Bay East Coast she qualified through, or anything else she’s done. “I don’t think it matters whether you’re male or female, it depends on your attitude, personality and your work ethic. If you want to do it just do it – women can do anything.”
The Platinum Sponsor for this year’s competition is CablePrice - a longstanding supporter of the industry and the competition. CablePrice also provides and services the Hitachi excavators the competitors operate during the event.
Other major competition sponsors are Attach2, beforeUdig, Civil Trades, Connexis, Contractor Magazine, Doug the Digger, First Gas, Hirepool, Humes and Lost Cost Bins.
