Jason Toomer-Reti is the best in the business when it comes to putting golf balls, opening beer bottles and slam dunking a basketball – all at the controls of a digger.
Toomer-Reti, 27, from Manurewa, and representing ICB Retaining & Construction, has won the Civil Contractors New Zealand Auckland Regional Excavator Operator Competition.
It involved an intense three-day challenge at Big Boys Toys at ASB Showgrounds from November 16 to 18.
Around 30 competitors had to impress judges and the crowd by using excavators to navigate a course and carry out a range of tricky tasks. They also had to demonstrate excellent health and safety precautions and planning.
The regional competition is one of 10 held around the country to find New Zealand’s best excavator operator, and Toomer-Reti will go on to represent Auckland, competing for the national title at the National Excavator Operator Competition at Manfield Park in Fielding in March 2019.
ICB Retaining & Construction managing director Regan Burke says he’s “ecstatic” with Toomer-Reti’s win which showed a very high level of skill, knowledge and professionalism in his sixth year of competition to achieve a score of 307.
Burke says ICB Retaining & Construction purchased the Hitachi excavator Toomer-Reti had operated in his previous competition victory two years ago for him to use at work. It was an investment that paid off and the skills developed were proven on the day.
“It was an amazing score, and Jason has worked really hard for it. He always studies. If he gets any down time he’s off trying tricky manoeuvres in the machine we bought for him,” Burke says.
Second prize in the Auckland competition went to three-time regional competition winner Brian Hoffman from Brian Hoffman Ltd, who scored 304 points, while 23-year-old Jake Alderson took third place.
The team prize for most accumulated points went to CB Civil and Drainage, while Daniel Smith of DK Smith Excavations won the Non-CCNZ Member Prize. Nick Cain of Higgins won the ‘Good Bugger’ prize for acting in the spirit of the competition.
Heavy equipment company CablePrice sponsors, provides and services all the machines used during the regional and national events, with regional sponsorship from Hirepool, CivilShare, Global Survey, Fleet Agent, Attach2, ICB Retaining & Construction, Humes, Z Energy, Stellar Recruitment, Oil Intel, Connexis, BeforeUDig, Enzed and First Gas.
Operated by national association Civil Contractors New Zealand, the competition aims to raise the profile of civil construction as a high-tech industry.
Competition organiser Roald Badenhorst from CCNZ Auckland congratulated Toomer-Reti on his win.
“The excavator operator competition is a great way to recognise the time our operators put into building the skills they use on a daily basis – vital skills that support the work civil contractors do for New Zealand infrastructure in Auckland and beyond.
“These skills are in high demand at the moment, and a good operator can get hired in a heartbeat,” Badenhorst says.
