Putaruru kids are AgriKids winners
A trio from St Mary’s Catholic School in Putaruru have been announced as the Waikato Bay of Plenty AgriKids winners.
Called Mixed Breed, the team was made up of Isaac Farrell, 11, Liam van der Heyden, 12, and Genevieve Farrell, 12.
They have been invited to Christchurch to compete in the Grand Final, along with second place getters from Waikite School and third place, also from St Mary’s Catholic School.
Isaac said he’s excited to compete in Christchurch after their team “smoked” teams from across the region.
“The animal footprint pest module was the hardest,” he said.
Genevieve said she hopes they’ll do okay at the Grand Final, after winning the race off by around two minutes.
“The race off was pretty fun,” she said.
The contest was held at Saint Paul’s Collegiate on Saturday and ran alongside FMG Junior Young Farmer of the Year and FMG Young Farmer of the Year Regional Finals.
Competing in teams of three, AgriKids completed a series of modules hosted by sponsors before the top seven teams were announced.
From there the top seven teams went head to head in The Race Off, undertaking a sequence of tasks in a time and points challenge.
Cream of the Crop trio, made up of Lachlan Woulfe, Max Lang and Siniva Teague from Waikite Valley School in Rotorua came in second place.
Siniva was also awarded the AgriKids Competitor of the Day.
Meanwhile in third place were The Cowgirls — Ava Fladgate, Maeve Pacey and Nellie Jeffares, also from St Mary’s Putaruru.
The top two teams for the FMG Junior Young Farmer of the Year have also been invited to the Grand Finals.
A duo from Te Awamutu College have taken out the Waikato Bay of Plenty FMG Junior Young Farmer of the Year title.
Alex Fitzgerald and Alex West won the contest held at Saint Paul’s Collegiate on Saturday.
In second place were Rod and Todd — Luke Farrell and Fergus Casey from Putaruru College.
The competition for students in high school Teen Ag Clubs ran alongside the Waikato Bay of Plenty FMG Young Farmer of the Year Regional Final.
Both teams have been invited to compete at the Grand Final in Christchurch in July.
Fitzgerald and West said they were shocked by the win and are pumped to be heading to Christchurch.
“I’ve always wanted to go down south.
“Now I’ve got an excuse to,” West said.
“It was pretty challenging, especially the quiz — that was pretty hard.”
It was the second time competing for the duo, who came runner up for Waikato Bay of Plenty in 2018 and 12th overall at the Grand Final.
Fitzgerald was also awarded overall FMG junior competitor of the year in the 2018 contest.
Competing this year, the pair said they used their different strengths, with West having grown up on a dairy farm and Fitzgerald on a sheep and beef farm.
“I’ve got the drystock farming background, deer and other bits and pieces,” Fitzgerald said.
The pair plan to fundraise to get to Grand Final through sourcing sponsors, selling sausage sizzles and a firewood raffle with firewood season coming up.