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Celebrating fencing at Riwaka
Where do the years go? I've been to 19 FCANZ Conferences, and enjoyed every one of them. Catching up with like-minded Contractors and our all-important Partners, without which FCANZ wouldn t exist.
We had our National Fencing Field Day at Riwaka this year, next to the Riwaka Hotel grounds. Having set up over a couple of days beforehand, Wednesday dawned a beautiful blue-sky morning, and the sun was shining all day. We had great support from our Partners with 15 exhibiting their latest wares. It was awesome having them on board.
It was fantastic having Craig 'Wiggy' Wiggins, our Patron, along with the Carr Family Foundation, doing health and wellness checks to make sure we were performing at our best. The 'Lean on a Gate, Talk to a Mate' setup always generates some earnest conversations.
FCANZ members and the public get a great deal out of the National Fencing Field Day being able to see, examine and have products demonstrated while having 1:1 conversations with the reps is priceless.
College Competition
A highlight of the event is the Secondary Schools Fencing Challenge. This year we had nine teams of two competing. One short fence was erected the day before as a guide for competitors, with the students doing all the wire work and guided by the judging contractors. On the day itself, there was a preheat, just to warm everyone up.
The main competition saw students competing from Geraldine High School, Marlborough Boys College and Motueka High School. The specifications were to run five wires, fit 10 end insulators, 10 post insulators, five permanent wire strainers, one crimp, a figure-8, and tension to specifications. Some very high standards were displayed, with Geraldine High School ultimately taking out the top placing. It was great to see these same students helping some of the not-so- experienced students. These future fencing contractors are well on their way to running their own business or being incredibly valuable employees.
A big thanks to Sarah Foley-Smith from Geraldine High School for the amount of work that she puts into training these students. Zac Walker and Brooklyn Hovenden from Motueka High School did extremely well after only a couple of hours of training the week before.
Materials for the competition were auctioned off afterwards, together with other donated items, raising $5,000 for the Lean on a Gate campaign.
Riwaka Hotel ran the coffee cart and food for the day, which kept everyone watered and fed to a high standard, with a couple of beers available later in the day for those who had worked up a thirst.
Demonstrations
We had a mixture of fencing demonstrations during the day:
A pipe security fence with a 90-degree angle demonstrated by Galen Monks from Custom Fencing.
Post and rails by David Swansson, Bang It Fencing, of Pahiatua.
Footing, stay and strainer assemblies by Tom Rathgen, Rathgen Fencing, Canterbury.
Electric fencing by Ken McMiken, from Gallagher.
Netting fencing by Brendon Crequer from Waratah.
Testing of different strainer and tie-back assemblies by Scott Heasley and Tom Rathgen. The tests were undertaken in very soft ground, with the following outcomes shown in the table.
The results show it all comes back to knowing the ground you are working in, bearing in mind an 8-wire fence pulled at up to 150gs force, equals 1200kg of pull.
Thanks to our local digger contractor for providing the digger for all the testing and cleanup at the end of the day.
A big thank you to all the students for filling in all the holes and helping pull all the fences down with our FCANZ team.
Overall, it was an awesome day for Members, Partners and everyone involved. I ll be back next year.
All the best and enjoy what you do.
Yours, Noksee
Maisie Hancox Pipe security fence demonstration Testing strainers demonstration Galen Monks - one of the show us your toolbox winners, sponsored by Bayonet
Written by John Noakes
Photos: Anna Heasley Photography
Published in WIRED issue 82/September 2026 by Fencing Contractors Association NZ
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