Newspaper Article 2008 – Young farmers return to Parade

Young farmers return to Parade

THE National Bank Young Farmers Regional Competition will, for the second time, on April 19, 2008, be held on Marine Parade, with the evening show taking place in the Century Theatre.

Following the success of the competition three years ago, on the southern side of the National Aquarium, the East Coast competition committee has decided that this would be the ideal spot to hold it again.

“The location has all the characteristics needed to make the competition challenging for the competitors, as well as providing great entertainment for the public,” marketing manager Suz Bremner says.

The day competitions are free to attend and people are more than welcome to stroll around and watch the competitors solve the various challenges against the backdrop of beautiful sea views, with experts on hand to answer any questions.

The National Aquarium will be used for the interview and technical competitions, which are the first challenges of the day.  Competitors will then move outside to complete their practical sections, followed by the agrisports race.

The agrisports is great entertainment for the crowd as they can see the competitors racing against each other, completing various tasks, which can be anything from sculpting logs with a chainsaw to squashing grapes with their feet to make wine.  The winner of the race receives points for coming first, but points are also picked up by completing tasks correctly.

Finally, and again a popular spectator event, is the Evening Show, held at the Century Theatre and hosted by Jim Hopkins.  Here the contestants compete against each other in question rounds, with their points added to the day’s totals and the winner announced at the end.

Hawke’s Bay recently held their district competition at Tikokino, which was won by Grant Charteris of the Tikokino Club, second place went to Angus Brown of the Tararua Club, and third place to Ben Johnson of the Tikokino Club.

These three winners, plus five other competitors, will battle it out to take the East Coast spot in the National Bank Young Farmers Grand Final, which will be held in Ashburton in July.

The Evening Show will commence at 7.30pm and tickets can be purchased at the Century Theatre for $20.  For more information contact Jeremy Hunt on 027 446 1539.