Eyeing up a homegrown win for 2029

Scott McKenzie. PHOTO: SHAWN MCAVINUE

Ploughmen Mark Dillon, of Northern Southland, and Bob Mehrtens, of Timaru, represented New Zealand at the 70th World Ploughing Championship in the Czech Republic last month.

Mr Dillon placed 19th out of 22 in the conventional class and Mr Mehrtens placed 12th out of 22 in the reversible class.

Shawn McAvinue talks to New Zealand Ploughing Association chairman Scott McKenzie, of Clinton, about the result.

Q. What’s your reaction to that result?

I haven’t had a chance to talk to either ploughmen about it yet so it’s a bit hard for me to comment at this stage as we haven’t had a debrief meeting yet to get a full roundup.

Q. Is New Zealand just making up numbers at the championship or is the team going there to win?

It does appear that way but that’s not the case. Obviously, you’re going there to win.

Q. The last time New Zealand won a class was 2010. It’s been a long time between drinks.

Yes. All we can do is practise and prepare our men well enough to go and have a crack at it. It’s hard when it’s on the other side of the world. So we’d be hoping when it’s in Southland in 2029 that we’ll have good ploughmen here that can have a crack at it on their home soil.

Q. The competition has been in New Zealand three times before: Christchurch in 1980, Outram in 1994 and Methven in 2010. At those competitions, one New Zealander, Bruce Redmond, won a class. Is there such thing as home-ground advantage?

It was in his home patch. He just lives one farm along the road but yeah, it’s been here before and we haven’t won it.

Q. Will the association be doing anything differently between now and 2029 to prepare the team for competing in Southland?

I’d like to think so, but I’m not sure what it’s going to be.

Q. Is our national competition being run appropriately to make sure we’re sending the best ploughmen to the championship?

I believe so. We’re still picking the best ploughmen on the day to go, so it’s not whoever wants to go. You’ve got to win and there is some quite good competition out there. It’s as good as you’re going to get but at this stage we aren’t as good as Ireland or Austria or some of those countries where there’s a lot more government money put into it.

Q. Do you think the New Zealand government should be providing some funding for the ploughmen?

Well, it would be nice. We’re working on it and how we can go forward and improve their position.

Q. What is different between ploughing a field in New Zealand and ploughing a field at an international competition, other than the soil types?

In theory, nothing. Potentially, the way they judge it is different. I don’t know that for a fact, but it would appear that there’s something missing. I don’t know. I haven’t talked to our judge either to find out whether that was the case or not. Is it a different style of ploughing, possibly?

Q. Was one of the judges in Prague a New Zealander?

Yep.

Q. Will the Kiwi judge provide the team feedback?

I’d hope they would and ultimately, we would want them to lead our judging panel in New Zealand so that we’ve got the most up-to-date judging skills from the world. There is a lot more technology going on over there. I’m quite out of touch with it now, but there’s a lot of stuff going on with ploughs and different gear to what there was. So just how we keep on top of that, I guess that’s up to the individuals, but if you want to go there to win, you’ve got to keep up with the Joneses.

Q. What sort of technology are you talking about? Are you talking about ploughs?

Yeah, they just do things differently. They’ve modified the ploughs quite considerably to when I ploughed there last, which is a few years ago now. There’s lots of modifications being made to the ploughs that just give them the edge. Little things and they’re forever evolving.

Q. Do you think all these modifications are fair and within the rules?

Northern Southland ploughman Mark Dillon represents New Zealand in the conventional class at the 70th World Ploughing Contest in the Czech Republic earlier this month. PHOTO: SUPPLIED

They’re obviously all within the rules, because none of them got disqualified. They all have to be inspected before the competition, so they’re all within the boundaries of the law.

Q. Do you think we need to be doing more in that space to try to get those little advantages?

It would appear that way but I need to have a good talk to Mark and Bob and see where we can go and how we can improve it. It was definitely trying conditions, but then you can’t really blame that either, because there’s always someone there that can plough 200-plus point plots every time.

It doesn’t matter how horrible it is and I think it’s just skill. It’s next level when you get over there. You’re dealing with people that are really, really, really good.

Q. What is the difference between someone who’s good and someone who’s really good?

Probably hours in the seat and just done lots of it, soaked it all up and learnt. They don’t make mistakes and are next level. You wonder how the hell they do it, but they’ve just done it and done it and done it, that many times. It’s just second nature to them but I don’t know. That’s a discussion we’ll have with our team and go through why aren’t we at that level.

Q. In some sports, if a team does not get results, the coach gets the sack. Could that be possible for coach Malcolm Taylor, of Putāruru?

We’ve got the executive meetings at the end of October, so it will all be discussed then. You apply for the coaching job and it wasn’t as if we’re swamped with people wanting to go and do it.

Q. Is it a paid position?

Not really. You get your accommodation and your meals. That’s about it. You get to pay your own flights.

Q. Is New Zealand targeting a win in 2029?

Absolutely. We’ll be targeting it every time we go but some things are just out of your control. Everything’s got to be in your favour to win.