TORNADO WIRE FENCING COMPETITION SET TO BECOME AN INTERNATIONAL EVENT
The recent Silver Spades Doubles fencing competition in New Zealand marked the first international exchange between Tornado’s UK Fencing Competition and the prestigious Fieldays Silver Spades Championship.
It was a fantastic opportunity for 2022 Tornado Fencing Competition winners Mark Evans and Nic Quan to demonstrate and share their fencing skills on the other side of the world whilst also learning lots of new techniques and ways of working.
Mark and Nic embarked on the ultimate busman’s holiday, covering the North Island of New Zealand. The tour included trips to fence comtool manufacturers and various contractors.
Mark said, “The welcome and hospitality we received from the fencing community in New Zealand was amazing. We also learned a lot about their techniques and the ground conditions which differ to what we experience in the UK. It was great to compete against some of the best fencers on the planet and see their attention to detail in action.”
Nic added “We are used to working to a high standard. The Silver Spades is designed to separate the best fencing pair from a field entirely made up of well-drilled, great fencers. All aspects of the fences are judged to strict criteria and all measurements are to the nearest mm. Ground conditions in New Zealand are different to those in the UK and trying to work out how a strainer assembly would react when the wire net was tensioned up was certainly a steep learning curve for us.”
“We would like to thank Tornado Wire Ltd for sponsoring us to go to what can only be described as the toughest fencing competition in the world, it was an awesome experience!”
Malcolm Blackford Tornado Wire Sales Manager said “We held the first Tornado fencing competition in 1984 at Malvern. Since then we have seen the quality of workmanship increase year on year. We are extremely proud to have forged links with FCANZ (Fencing Contractors New Zealand) and the Silver Spades competition. We are eager to repeat the exchange of skills and knowledge and have invited the NZ Silver Spades winners to compete in the Tornado 2024 Fencing Competition and we hope that this relationship helps our industry to continue to advance here in the UK. In addition, the winners of the Irish Stock Fencing Championship, Dan Flood and Alan Duffy, will also be making their debut at the 2024 Tornado Fencing Competition, making it a truly international event where sharing, learning and competition can all thrive.”
