NZAA/STIHL National Tree Climbing Championship Proudly sponsored by STIHL New Zealand

NZAA / STIHL
NATIONAL TREE CLIMBING CHAMPIONSHIP

2007

Mark Armistead retells the events of the 'Big Day Up' from the fiercely competitive National Tree Climbing Championship held in the Garden City, Christchurch. (Article from Tree Matters 36)

Stunning is the only way to describe the day. Christchurch turned on for the annual gathering of New Zealand’s finest tree climbers and there were even a few Aussies mixed in, just to keep everyone honest.

The event was set up on the northern boundary of Hagley Park, in a stand of Oak trees; the foot lock saw a new variation in which a 30 tonne crane was used to foot lock off and it proved to be visually spectacular.

          ABOVE: Hagley Park tree line and location of the NTCC 2007.

A strict 8:00 a.m. deadline was given to the climbers for the start, due to the largest numbers of climbers the Championship has had at a National event. On the day, the climbers all turned up to their various events promptly and this helped organisers and particpants to get through the initial stages of the competition well ahead of schedule.

Preliminary Event

During the Men’s Event, the usual candidates - such as the Wilson brothers, James Kilpatrick and Menno Kluiters - all started to shine, but you could see the relief on all their faces when the dark horse of the event Shane ‘the moose’ Meadowcroft pulled a muscle and could no longer take part in the competition.

Drew Bristow was on the up and up, moving a few places from last year and will be one to watch in 2008. The Aussie guys battled well all day and fared highly in most of the events.

This year, there were a couple of noticeable absentees, with Paul Kenny being injured and not competing, while Scott Forrest was travelling overseas and unable to attend. I imagine these two guys will be back next year and primed to give it a real crack.

The Women’s Event was a pretty tight affair, with Chrissy Spence, Elena O’Neill and Nicky Ward-Allen all going through to the Masters Challenge. The two Aussie women competing on the day held their own and it's great to see their contribution – having extra climbers of their calibre helps to lift the standard of the local competition.

Master's Challenge

During the Women’s Masters Challenge, Chrissy showed us all why she is the two-time World Champion, taking out the Masters contest. Elena battled hard through the event and Nicky showed us all she has some real potential. Nicky placed second in this event and, seeing as though Chrissy has automatic entry into the worlds, Nicky has got herself a place in next year’s world champs. Go the Kiwi girls!

          ABOVE: Current World Champion Chrissy Spence in action.

The Men’s Masters looked like it was going to be a difficult climb, Craig was first to ascend and managed to get through the entire event with only seconds left on the clock. James and Menno performed admirably but Tony showed all his class to take out the event. I was particularly impressed with Tony’s coolness under pressure, even with heaps of advice coming from the crowd advising him he was running out of time he simply stayed in the zone and finished the event calmly without fault.

This year’s award for innovation has to go to Matt Palmer. He decided he may be able to get some extra points during the work climb by cutting one of the bells out of the tree, unfortunately for Matt the judges didn’t quite see it this way and disqualified him from the work climb.

Special mentions need to go to the usual crew who turn up each year and help out without any questions, the likes of Mark Roberts, Marlies Laser, Vaughn Griffin, Hamish Fraser and Andy Harrison. And Matt Palmer is to be congratulated and commended for setting all of the background work for the venue, lunches, and so forth.

Also an extra special mention to Rick Mexted, who has worked tirelessly on this event for a few years now, and his employer, NZHITO, for allowing him the time that is taken for organising these events. Without volunteers like these we wouldn’t be able to put together an event such as this.

Big, big thanks to all the sponsors on the day there support is fantastic without the likes of STIHL, NZHITO, Levin Sawmakers, Donaghys, Advanced Tree Services, Bivouac, Aspiring, Ultra Ropes, Kiwi Tree Team, Allendale Garden Supplies, Orion, City Care, Tree Tech, Icebreaker, Otago Polytechnic, Horttraining NZ, and Wintec.

Special mention needs to go to Ed Chignel (Treescape) and Trevor Gardiner (Asplundh) for putting up $3000 each for the representatives going to the world champs this year.

NZAA / STIHL National Tree Climbing Championship 2007 Proudly sponsored by STIHL New Zealand