The games run for three days from Friday in Palmerston North’s Square.
Rural Games founder Steve Hollander says they’ve introduced several new initiatives like the Westpac Agri Futures careers day and expanded youth-related championships.
“We hope to nurture the next generation of rural sporting athletes and aid those interested in taking up many jobs and career opportunities available right now in rural NZ,” Hollander said.
The Allflex Clash of the Colleges has also grown, attracting teams from New Plymouth to Napier to Wairarapa and Paraparaumu. Sixty teams of agri-students will battle it out over 30 modules, including cowshed plant washdown, wool classing, body conditioning scoring, and paper-based modules covering seeds, weeds and fertilisers, and rural sports.
Hollander says “we’ve also created the Secondary School Shearing Championships – with a trophy donated by shearing legends Sir David Fagan and Rowland Smith – there’ll be a special youth speed tree climbing event, and you will also get to see rookies compete with the axe, saw and chainsaw”.
Palmerston North Mayor Grant Smith says “as it is Palmerston North’s 150th Anniversary, there is no better way to mark it than the NZ Rural Games.”
“Our city was founded on the strength of agriculture and food which remains the backbone of our diverse economy today,” he said.
VIPs to the weekend include Sir John Kirwan, Tom Walsh, Tangaroa Walker from Farm4Life, TV funny guys Jono and Ben, and many more.
The Ford Ranger New Zealand Rural Games, the Allflex Clash of the Colleges, the Westpac Agri Futures and Norwood NZ Rural Sports Awards will only be held in Palmerston North if the covid-19 alert level is at one.
