Northland's top excavator vies for national title

Northland champion Michael Smith is representing the region at the tough National Excavator Operator championships this weekend.

The New Zealand Contractors' Federation have organised the championships to be held at Central Districts Field Days from today to Saturday 9 March.

Mr Smith, from Te Hana, works for Wharehine Contractors and last reached the final in 2011.

The competition is famous for its surprise challenges including contestants having to perform delicate tasks using the buckets of 12-tonne Hitachi machines provided by sponsor CablePrice.

In recent years challenges have ranged from lifting a teapot to pour a cup to tea to popping a champagne cork and, last year, flipping sausages on a barbecue.

However, the rest of the competition is deadly serious, with contestants undergoing two days of rigorous construction, planning and loading challenges designed to test their operator skills and industry knowledge to the limit.

Smith will face stiff competition from 10 other regional champions including defending national champion Blair Duncan from Otago.

The Federation's Executive Officer Malcolm Abernethy said excavator operating is "a highly skilled profession. Operators need to deal with a huge range of routine and unexpected situations."