Apprentices compete at the Southern region challenge

The third and final of the regional challenges for this year’s Wallie Askew Memorial Workskills Competition was held in Christchurch last month, with two more finalists named to compete in the finals in October

This time it was Christchurch’s turn to host the Wallie Askew Memorial Regional Challenge, with six competitors getting involved on the day – their confidence and knowledge being something Trent McDonald, IRHACE Councilor and judge for theory and electrical, was impressed to see.

“They all seemed confident at what they’re doing, and I think they probably came away from the competition learning something new. Everyone seemed quite challenged by the competition we’ve put together, and there were comments made about being impressed with the addition of the emissions part of the competition this year,” says Trent.

It was also clearly a great opportunity for apprentices in the industry to come together.

“I think a lot of the apprentices will be eligible again for next year, which is awesome because they’re able to continue to improve on their skills and maybe win the competition next year. A lot of them were socialising with each other, which was awesome to see, too.”

Held on Saturday August 12, the six competitors at the Christchurch regional challenge were Lachy Duff (Active Refrigeration), Logan Martin (David Brown Contracting), Tom McCrory (Active Refrigeration), Matt Jackson (Active Refrigeration), Koenraad Mullis (McAlpine Hussmann) who placed second and Matthew Weir from McAlpine Hussmann who took home the win.

“Matt Weir’s theory knowledge carried the day for him,” shares IRHACE board member Chris Arvidson. “The points that I saw were quite close together for the practical, recovery and the electrical. So the one thing that really did make the difference was the theory.

“It was really cool to see them getting in there and giving it their best. Everyone seemed really happy. Hopefully we can build on it and go bigger next year – we want to see more apprentices from out of town getting involved, too.”

Special thanks to our major sponsor Realcold, support from CCCANZ, ACSL Group, BDT and SIT for hosting the regional challenges, Steelfort for hosting the final competition, and equipment supplied by Refspecs.