Gold for Kiwi panning team at world champs

A Queenstown father and daughter have won gold as members of the New Zealand Gold Panning team at the world championships in Scotland.

Stu and Megan Ide won the three-person gold panning team competition in partnership with a Kiwi living in Germany, Michael Cocks.

Team Kiwi were one minute and 47 seconds ahead of other teams and lost only one flake of gold on Saturday, Stu Ide said.

He said he was especially delighted with the results, considering Megan and him had the flu.

‘‘We could not believe it. We were blown away by that.’’

The gravel used in the competition was different from what the team were used to in Otago, he said.

‘‘It was not nice to work with . . . but everybody was complaining about it so everybody was on the same boat.’’

The competition was stiff throughout the four days of the championship, Ide said.

The New Zealand five-person team comprised the trio and Queenstown husband and wife Amanda and David Gatwardferguson.

‘‘There were lots of countries that were represented so it was not something that was easy.

‘‘You had to bear in mind that people have been doing it for a long time and the competition was pretty vigorous,’’ he said.

The winning strategy for the Team Kiwi was not to rush the panning.

‘‘A lot of people start off really fast to get the gold and then they lose it because they go too fast,’’ Ide said.

‘‘You’re better off to go slow, get your gold and pick your speed up as you go through that.’’

Nine gold panners from New Zealand entered the competition, which was the biggest team to leave the shore for the championship in history.

‘‘We were very delighted to get that number of people.

‘‘Because the more people that go, the more chances you have to get a medal.’’

Queenstown might not have such a strong representation in next year’s championship in Slovakia as it was more expensive to travel there, he said.

Stu and wife Sandy would stay in Scotland for a cruise, while Megan is back in Queenstown.