219 days after it was launched, the New Zealand / Australian representative in the world final of the Irwin Tools Ultimate Tradesman Challenge is about to be announced.

The Irwin Tools Ultimate Tradesman Challenge was  launched in Melbourne on April 8 and will conclude this  Sunday in Sydney with the Australia / New Zealand final at  the Sydney Telstra 500. The winner will go on to the world  final in Tennessee, USA, this coming March.

The  Irwin Tools Ultimate Tradesman Challenge (UTC) 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. Since April, 1707 people  from all walks of life have tried their hand at setting the fastest time to qualify for the UTC final. Events were staged in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth,  Darwin, Gold Coast, Townsville and Bathurst, with a  stand-alone event in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Eight finalists, representing six of the  seven Australian states, one from New Zealand, and one for  the internationally recognised WorldSkills competition, will  fight it out for world final representative honours.

At each event the competition has been run from a  custom built Irwin stage that took eight weeks to design and  build and takes up to 40 man hours to erect at each venue. A 3D computer model was developed so that Irwin could see what  it looked from all angles, and parts were sourced from Australia, China, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

(more…)