PIA fencers nail it at Field Days

HOW PROUD!! Our adventure started at 4am with teenagers district-wide leaping out of bed in anticipation of a day ahead with Team Leader (Mrs FS) at the South Island Agricultural Field Days at Kirwee.

The teens were surprisingly chatty on pick-up at 5am, with Team Leader’s hopes of a quiet trip ahead dashed early on.

How to find Gate C in the dark – turns out this was quite the conundrum. Fortunately, Minivan #3 has had plenty of prior U-turn practice (by other less experienced drivers), and after carving up some poor unsuspecting resident’s front lawn, we arrived to be met by a sea of hi-viz. Now, preferential entry to the Field Days and superior parking is quite the feat to achieve, and Team Leader was justifiably proud that this goal was waiting just on the other side of the gate. Only for disaster to strike… the tickets were buried at the bottom of the trailer. Tense moments ensued, with the queue growing behind us. Electronic tickets found, we scanned in, with our new hi-viz friends saying they had enjoyed the training exercise.

Unloading the trailer always gives the appearance of a 5-year-old’s birthday party – suspense in discovering what we packed, wailing about what we forgot, and general chaos as the 15 wee helpers work up a sweat.

Fencing royalty happen to be onsite and Team Leader is quick off the mark to reacquaint herself with her famous friends: the NZ Fencing Competitions Committee Members, ex Golden Pliers winners, and posh contractors galore. Primary Industry Academy (PIA) stand in awe at the hobnobbing on display.

Lines are set up with teams from Geraldine High School, Akaroa Area School and Rangiora High School competing. Our intrepid fencers have to erect a 3-wire electric fence, ram 5 intermediate Y posts, parallel electrics at each end, dig in two Breast Blocks, add in inline tensioners, figure 8, crimp and sponsors’ signs. Our fastest team is off the line in 1 hour 21minutes, with the rest close behind. A tense hour passes as our fences are measured to the last mm. Team Leader is not known for her patience – her class thinks this should be a future professional development goal.

Drum roll for the results… PIA are the 2025 South Island Secondary Schools Fencing Champions, also taking out 2nd, 5th and 6th place! Akaroa is a close 3rd, with Rangiora 4th and just a couple of points separating the teams.

Nice work

1st: Tom Batty & Cullen Bolt

(Geraldine High School)

2nd: Cayden Howell & Issy Atkinson

(Geraldine High School)

3rd: Lachaidh Shannon & Mason Rogal

(Akaroa Area School)

4th: John Lundy & Lachie Kelman

(Rangiora High School)

5th: Gus Cameron & Tom McKeown

(Geraldine High School)

6th: Althea Smith & Lilly McQueen

(Geraldine High School)

7th: Eyhan McGrath & Liam Barrett

(Rangiora High School)

After cutting down the fences, ramming all the holes, and generally being awesome, we are released to make new friends – vendors site-wide are pumped in anticipation. By the time we visit all our sponsors, there’s not much time left. The cost of preferential parking comes at a price – we are stuck onsite until 5.30pm. As Team Leader yarns to main sponsor Andy from Point Lumber, a familiar looking minivan flashes past. Hmmm. Turns out the kids had sore feet and while lying on the grass at the van, could see an unmanned exit. Team Howell (parents of the year) instigated a van liberation. Yay. Time to boost through to Ashburton for tea.

It was a great day, where once again our fabulous students did us proud, with a long day under pressure, never once complaining during the big
clean up.

A huge thank you to Struan from Strainrite, NZ Fencing Competitions’ Debbie White and Nick Leifting, FCANZ Board member Nick Terry, Tony Brady,
Andy from Point Lumber and our ‘Coach of the Year’ Dan Douglass Fencing, and assistant Quinn Foley-Smith.

Written by Sarah Foley-Smith