Rural Games comes to town

Set to take place over Waitangi Day weekend, the games promise to showcase the best in agri-sport and will feature some exciting new formats for traditional rural sports. Athletes, also known as farmers, will compete in a range of sporting action that includes speed sheep shearing, sheep dog trials, speed fencing, speed milking and coal shovelling.
It will perhaps come as little surprise that dairy giant Fonterra is the biggest sponsor for the NZ Speed Hand Milking Championship.
This traditional competition is big in Europe and is sure to be a drawcard in Queenstown as punters watch local Young Farmers contestants milk by hand against the clock. Fibreglass cows have been adapted with realistic udders and piping to replicate the hand milking process as closely as possible, allowing competitors to milk their cows for all they are worth.
As many rural sports associations will use the event to host their national championships, a number of top professional athletes will be in attendance. This will certainly be the case for the ANZAXE wood chopping trophy featuring four of the best axemen from both sides of the Tasman.
There will also be the NZ Championship of Gumboot Throwing which has relocated from its original home of Taihape.
After a day of games, punters can relax with a live music concert that includes the Topp Twins and country singer Jody Direen.
Hilux NZ Rural Games founder and trustee Steve Hollander was looking forward to an exciting and fun-filled weekend.
“It’s going to be an awesome weekend of family entertainment. We have some amazing athletes coming for the championship events and there’ll even be opportunities for spectators to have a go. Then we’ll all swap gumboots for dancing shoes when Jody and the Topp Twins hit the stage,” he says.
For those unable to make the trek to Queenstown, all is not lost. There will be a special hour-long highlights package of the Rural Games on Sky Sport, fronted by television rugby presenter and former All Black Jeff Wilson.
“When the opportunity came up I couldn’t wait to get on board. Heading down to Queenstown is an obvious attraction and hopefully we can give viewers a real insight into traditional sports that don’t get as much profile. It’s a great way to showcase these sports and have a bit of fun along the way,” Wilson says.
“Jeff has a real understanding of the fitness and technical skills required by some of the rural athletes who are coming to Queenstown. We’ve definitely got his name down for a couple of events but we’re keeping those under wraps for now to keep him guessing,” Hollander says.
“Before rugby there were shearing and wood chopping competitions around NZ. It’s sports like these that forged our national character.”
Tickets for the Rural Games and concert are on sale through Ticket Direct,
www.ticketdirect.co.nz.