Pro Civil excavator operator Damien Nagle says why jump when you can just use a digger to dunk a basketball.
It is just one of many unusual things the 26-year-old Irishman can do with his excavator, and those precision skills came to the fore recently when he won the Civil Contractors New Zealand CablePrice Otago Regional Excavator Operator Competition.
He was one of 12 competitors at the contest, held as part of the 166th Taieri A&P Show in Mosgiel, which attracted hundreds of people who watched them push their excavators to the limits.
In addition to using their heavy machines to dunk basketballs, they also had to pour cups of tea and other more conventional challenges, such as traversing logs in excavators, loading trucks, as well as completing a test of operators’ health and safety knowledge and an excavator pre-start check.
Mr Nagle said he came to New Zealand just over two years ago on a working holiday.
It was the first time he had entered the competition.
"I’ve only been driving diggers for six years, so I wasn’t expecting the result that I got, to be very honest with you.
"I thought I’d be nowhere near coming where I am.
"There was a lot of nerves on the go when I was doing it, but we got there in the end.
"I’m overly proud of achieving something like this."
He was delighted he would now be representing the Otago region in the CCNZ CablePrice National Excavator Operator Competition, to be held during the Central Districts Field Days, on March 19-21.
Jason Cooper (Andrew Haulage) was runner up in the Otago competition while Kaleb Holland (Hollands Excavation) was third.
In the social competition, Chetan Raju (Twin Peaks Earthworks) was first, Sean Brosnan (Pro Civil) was second and Mitch Cooper (RW Richard Contracting) was third.
The company competition was won by Pro Civil.
Members of the public were also able to have a go at the controls of excavators, with instruction from operators, allowing people to build skills and understand the expertise required to operate excavators with pinpoint precision.
"For anyone who is keen, I would recommend them to do this because it’s a fun day out and you meet lots of new people," Mr Nagle said.
