The LVD World Auctioneering Championships, which started yesterday, are being hosted in the resort for the fourth time.
During the three-day event, real estate auctioneers in novice, senior and open categories are put through their calling paces — yesterday’s and today’s rounds are being held at the Rydges hotel, while those who qualified for tomorrow’s final will call auctions from a mystery Queenstown home.
The event was the brainchild of Auckland’s Sumich Estate Agents & Auctioneers owner Mark Sumich and his business partner Julia Rust, who believed extra competition would hone the skills of auctioneers ahead of the annual Real Estate Institute of New Zealand auctioneering championships and the Australasian championships.
As part of the competition, a masterclass was also included, while Ms Rust said auctioneers also learned by watching other practitioners in action.
While it may sound presumptuous to call an Australasian event a "world championship", Ms Rust said the goal was to "take it to the world", with Queenstown acting as a drawcard to entice international auctioneers.
"We definitely want the ‘world’ component, but Covid’s obviously slowed us down."
The competition is also being livestreamed by its main sponsor, Auctions Live.
The defending two-time open title-holder is Bayleys national auction manager Conor Patton.
— Philip Chandler
