Tractor pulling show of strength
If the All Black forwards think they face strong opposition, they should try pitting themselves against the tractor pull sledge.
But according to Tractor Pull NZ chairman Vaughan Coy, the mighty All Blacks wouldn’t stand a chance. ‘‘They would need the entire team, reserves, the opposition team, referees, ball boys, coaches, managers and then some to even move it a little bit.’’
For the businesses who battled for the top title at Central Districts Field Days, the sledge posed no problem. Power Farming was looking to make it three in a row, but was knocked off its perch by Cervis. The Central Districts Team represented by event manager Cheryl Riddell, competing in her first ever competition, took out third place. ‘‘I reckon she would have had to pick a few bugs out of her teeth,’’ Coy said.
The way the sled was controlled had changed this year, he said. ‘‘We now use a percentage of the pulling tractor’s weight. We believe this is a world’s first.’’
‘‘No longer are tractors grouped in weight classes or calibrated per tonne, the competition score is now a pure percentage of the pulling tractor’s weight. No complicated maths to work out the calibrations, just a simple percentage across the board. As far as we know, our sled is the only one in the world that can do this and it is really proving to be a game changer.’’