Hawkes Bay tutor takes second Wiremark® Golden Pliers in front of a capacity crowd
A PACKED-OUT crowd turned up to watch eight expert fencers compete in this year's Wiremark® Golden Plier competition at
the National Fieldays in June.
2013 Wiremark® Golden Pliers champion and Smedley Station tutor Shane Bouskill won the competition, finishing with a 10
point margin over runner-up Tim Stafford, and completing his fence in 6 hours 20 minutes twenty minutes, an hour and ten
minutes behind the fastest fencer, Nick Liefting.
Finalists had to deal with very wet conditions with 150.2mm of rain falling on the area the week of the event.
78.4mm fell before the competition started on Thursday June 12 with another 34.2 falling on the day of competition.
Shane says, while the rain added another 20 minutes to everybody's time, it worked to his advantage as he only dug out a
limited number of holes. “A few competitors had to bail their holes out before they could put a post in because they had
drilled too many holes.”
“I only drill one hole at a time but I did have to ram the post up to get the right tension.”
Shane says there was plenty of pressure to repeat last year's performance again this year. “The 22 cadets expected me to
do really well.”
“Staff members and locals knew I was going into it again this year so there was plenty of pressure on me to perform.”
The weather didn't stop the crowds from watching though according to 14 time winner Paul Van Beers who played the novel
roll of spectator this year after being eliminated in the heats.
“The whole time competition was going there was a crowd 2-3 people deep along the viewing area.”
“It was really good to see and most of the people who watched would stand there a long length of time.”
Paul made up for his Wiremark® Golden Pliers absence by winning the doubles silver staple competition with his son,
Jason, marking the first time a family member entry had won since brothers Bill and Albert Schuler won the event in
1969.
Paul says competition was tight at an event which could have been won by any of the [six|eight]
teams that made the finals. “Luck was on our side at the Fieldays, we had exceptional fencers to compete against.”
“Any one of the six teams could have won.”
Results were close in the Bill Schuler Novice competition with half of the field finishing within 10 minutes of each
other although Franklin newcomer Daniel Hunt eventually took out the event despite it being only the second time he had
taken part in a competitive event.
Smedley Station students took out the first and second places in the Silver Staples novice competition with Wilton Weeks
and Tyler Morrison coming first and Ben Galloway and Watarawi Ngata coming second.
Pacific Steel’s Wire Sales and Market Development Manager Andrew Hibbert was impressed with the high standard of
quality. “It is great to see the finest fencers in New Zealand showcasing our quality Wiremark® wire…I believe the best
way to showcase our wire is to have the best people using it and this definitely happened this year.”
“It's an incredible spectacle when fencers at the top of their game compete against each other and I think the crowds
the event drew at Mystery Creek were a testament to that.”
--
http://www.fencingcontractors.co.nz/NZFC