KIWI TRADIE DOES NEW ZEALAND PROUD
Teu Marunui Joiner Layton McCann went into the weekend's New Zealand and Australia final of the IRWIN Tools Ultimate Tradesman Challenge as an outsider to take the title, but his determination and impressive tool skills shone through, helping him reach the final.
Since the competition's launch in Melbourne on April 8, over 2000 people across New Zealand and Australia have worked the IRWIN Tools hoping to qualify for the world's biggest tradesman competition.
With competitions being held in North and South America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Scandinavia, the IRWIN Tools Ultimate Tradesman Challenge is searching for the world's best tradesman in a competition of skill that incorporates a series of precise tool based tasks in a race against the clock.
McCann made the finals, having won the Hamilton event in April and posted the sixth fastest qualifying time amongst the eight finalists.
The training undertaken by McCann prior to the finals showed through. He produced the fourth fastest time in Saturday's finals ranking event, posting a time of 40.58seconds.
McCann competed in the third quarter final, ousting Victorian John Dagher, who came into the competition ranked third, ahead of McCann in sixth.
In the semi-final McCann defeated another Victorian, Jeff Cartwright, who was not only the second fastest tradesman, but made the final of the 2008 IRWIN Tools Ultimate Tradesman Challenge final.
The semi-final showed that McCann was improving, his time of 35.95 seconds was not only four seconds faster than his best time, but it was the second fastest time of the day.
The New Zealand and Australia final of the IRWIN Tools Ultimate Tradesman Challenge saw McCann up against pre-event favourite Matt Francis.
Francis posted the fastest qualifying time (35.13seconds) and was the fastest tradesman of the weekend, recording a time of 35.54seconds in his semi-final.
Little did the big crowd know that the final was going to be the fastest challenge seen across all of Australia and New Zealand this year and that there would be nothing separating the two.
Francis won the final with a scorching time of 29.90seconds, one of the few people around the globe to go under 30 seconds. McCann's arm touched the clock function prior to him finishing the task, but completed it within a tenth-of-a-second of Francis.
McCann was disappointed to lose the final but was gracious in defeat.
"I was pretty stoked to get through to the final, it was the goal all along," said Layton McCann.
"I wanted to do New Zealand proud, but chainsaw Matt (Matt Francis) pipped me at the post.
"He did really well the whole weekend, we all knew he was going to be the one to beat, but I'm pretty happy to have done so well.
"All the finals were extremely nerve wracking. After the semi-final I was shaking to bits, even during the final the nerves were churning in the guts, it's what you have to overcome. I just had to battle on through, which was hard.
"I congratulate Matt, I wish I could have gone one better, but second best tradie across New Zealand and Australia is not bad.
"I messed up on one saw stroke, which I think, in the end, was the difference between winning and coming second.
"I gave it my all; I had nothing left, which showed in the time. To do 30 seconds was very unexpected. I'm proud."
McCann had a wonderful weekend and thanked IRWIN for putting on the IRWIN Tools Ultimate Tradesman Challenge.
"It's a brilliant competition, I can't thank the guys at IRWIN Tools enough," said McCann.
"They've really laid it on for us this weekend, they looked after us so well, it's been absolutely wonderful.
"I can't thank them enough, it's been brilliant."
McCann was runner-up in the 2010 IRWIN Tools Ultimate Tradesman Challenge, coming second to Queensland representative Matt Francis.
Matt Francis will represent Australia and New Zealand in the world final this coming March.