National Competitions

The WIREMARK® Golden Pliers® is the Singles Championship and represents the mana of the fencing industry, with New Zealand’s top competitors vying for the title and the unique mounted Golden Pliers trophy.

There are qualifying heats held in the morning three days before the finals championship competition with the eight top qualifiers making the final.

The WIREMARK® Golden Pliers® fence construction is a 50 metre long, nine wire post, wire and batten fence, including diagonal end assemblies, foots and hanging a pipe gate. The maximum allowed time is 6 ½ hours, with the fastest time traditionally around the 4 ½ hour mark.

Sounds easy? It’s not. This is a nonstop endurance competition, a hand built fence, with hand battening, the mechanical tools being post hole borers and chainsaws. The Judges are looking to knock points off and a competitors eye for detail can be the deciding factor in being the winner or not.

If you’re looking for fencing standards and fencing excellence this is the place to find it demonstrated. Previous WIREMARK® Golden Pliers® winners have gone on to be recognised as fencing industry icons with names like Bill Schuler, Ernie Shicker, Neville Prince, Allan (George) Schuler, Trevor Woolston, Paul Van Beers, Owen Petersen, Wayne Newdick.

The Fieldays® Silver Spades™ is the Doubles Championship, with often fencers who have paired up and competed at the regional competitions competing at this level. The fence type can vary each year and new products are often showcased in this competition, including in recent year the Stockade battening gun. Being a doubles competition its faster paced than the Singles championship and teamwork prevails, as it does on many fence lines around the country. However the Judges are still present, again seeking an exceptionally high standard.

There are qualifying heats held in the afternoon four days before the doubles Championship finals with the six top qualifiers making the final.

The Bill Schuler Competition is open to the next six competitors from the Golden Pliers™ heats who have never made a Golden Pliers Final. Competitors can win the Bill Schuler Competition twice before becoming ineligible to compete.

The fence is a three wire electric fence.

The Fieldays® Silver Staples is a training institutes doubles competition and competitors must be under the age of 23 years and be enrolled in a training institution. This competition has been implemented at the Fieldays for the past four years and cadet training farms like Smedley, Waipaoa and Otiwhiti have entered teams, along with Taratahi.