Rotorua man Lloyd Jenks will be bringing big dig energy to Feilding at the end of this week when he climbs into the cab of a 13-tonne excavator to represent Bay of Plenty at the Civil Contractors New Zealand CablePrice National Excavator Operator Competition.

Jenks will be one of 13 champions from around New Zealand who will rumble onto the competition course at Manfeild Park on 15 and 16 March during the Central Districts Field Days.

This year’s event the marks the competition’s 30th anniversary and competitors will face a host of never-seen-before challenges, as well as crowd-pleasing tests of precision that have been popular in the past, such as dunking a basketball using an excavator’s bucket or pouring a cup of tea using a specially engineered excavator attachment.

Lloyd says he's “up for the challenge” and looking forward to finding out what the pressure of the finals is all about in his first year competing at the nationals.

He qualified for the finals after his success in the Bay of Plenty regional competition in June 2023, demonstrating progression after placing third in 2021 and second in 2022.

“I watched the regional excavator operator competition one year and thought ‘I can do that’. Now I’ve won it and qualified for the nationals.

“I don’t know what to expect so I’ll just have to keep a calm head and think about things practically … it’s easy to get overwhelmed so I’ll have to break everything down and think about it simply.”

He works for JME Contractors providing a variety of civil infrastructure services to business across Rotorua and the Bay of Plenty.

A keen mountain biker, he started out building mountain bike trails by hand and moved on to constructing tracks with an excavator, before taking on other roles in the civil construction industry - the rest is history.

Bay of Plenty champion Lloyd Jenks.

Civil Contractors New Zealand Chief Executive Alan Pollard says this year’s finals will 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 says the annual competition provides a chance to celebrate New Zealand’s excavator operators and inspires young people to consider careers in civil contracting.

“Whether it’s aging 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,” says Alan.

He encourages 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 Gordon 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 (14-16 March), 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 VR 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.