From the other side of the fence

18 May 2005

From the other side of the fence

Fencing is more than just a fill-in job for farmers according the fencing committee at Fieldays.

The NZ National Fieldays Society hopes to promote this at the 37th National Fieldays in conjunction with major sponsor Pacific Wire, who will have a strong presence in the training and education tent in the fencing area. Fieldays committee member and fencing contractor Wayne Newdick has been fencing since the early 1980s.

An engineer by trade, Mr Newdick can’t remember why he got into fencing, but his career kicked off through one ad in the paper. He was self taught from day one, a quick learner and always keen to improve himself. Fencing is still a challenge and something Mr Newdick takes pride in.

“And you can always improve, whether it is on the fence line or in life. But you need to have a passion to pursue anything,” he said.

Mr Newdick was the first fencer on the Fieldays fencing committee. He joined five or six years ago as a representative from ‘the other side of the fence’. As an entrant for over twenty years, he can certainly can speak for the fencers and communicate what they would like out of the competition and how to improve it.

Mr Newdick and Paul Van Beers (nine times Golden Pliers title winner) have been at the top of the table the last few years, winning the doubles and coming first and second in the Golden Pliers final, but this success hasn’t come easy. After entering the competition for six or seven years and not qualifying in the heats, Mr Newdick at last made the Golden Pliers final in 1990.

“It’s not by accident that we are winning this competition, some of the new entrants get blown away by us more experienced guys but we’ve had our time at the bottom too,” he said.

In last year’s competition Mr Newdick missed out on the title by ten seconds but will back this year to try again. Though he always strives to take the title, it is never his number one goal.

“The thing I’m the most nervous about is qualifying in the heats. Its takes so much more concentration and you only have to make one mistake to miss out for the year.” Mr Newdick said.

“One year Paul Van Beers only just scraped through, qualifying eighth in the heats, but then going on to win the finals, and that shows the nature of the heats.”

Mr Newdick describes the fencing competition as a mind game and a balancing act between time and quality.

“It’s so easy to make a mistake then you have to weigh up whether to go back and fix it and which penalty will be better.” Apart from a strong frame of mind, entrants also need to be physically prepared. Mr Newdick runs to keep fit, and said you definitely need to have the stamina for this endurance sport.

Entry forms for the Fieldays® Waikato Draught / Wiremark Fencing Championships are available on www.fieldays.co.nz or by calling 07-843-4499. Entries close 3 June 2005.

ENDS

© Scoop Media