Magazine: Regional Seminar at Kurri Kurri Wrap Up.
By Simon Kars & Rob Jenkins in Shows and seminars on 20th Aug 2009 19:10
Pitchcare Oceania headed up to Kurri Kurri TAFE Campus for the one day seminar and trade show.
After a 12 hour drive up from windy Melbourne, Kurri was a delight for the Pitchcare team. With temperatures of 25 degrees and not a cloud in the sky, the regional town really laid out the welcome mat for all delegates.
The Kurri Kurri conference is run every year by the Sports Turf Association (STA) in conjunction with the local TAFE and grounds. The location is one of the best in Australia, set in lovely Australian bush with great buildings for talks and exhibiting.
Kurri Kurri is only a small town with just over 5,000 people, yet they have always loved their sport. Rugby league legend Andrew Johns as well as motorbike superstars Chad Reed and Casey Stoner are all Kurri Kurri boys. They say Kurri has produced more Rugby league internationals than any other town in Australia; a pretty fair effort for such a small town.
With its love for sport, it seems fitting to have such a beautiful TAFE for the region and the yearly conference.
STA lined up a grand day for all involved with talks with highlights from Adam Ayre from Muswellbrook Race club about his time over in Hong Kong with the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Adam spent two weeks at the club after winning the racing industry’s scholarship in 2008.
The other great talk was by the charismatic Graeme Logan from ANZ Stadium. Graeme always commands respect so when he talks everyone listens, and his talk on the Gro Lights at ANZ was a great insight into the rigs which are starting to pop over Australia’s best stadiums.
The main section for the trade show was a long strip outdoors in front of where the food and talks were being held. A slight breeze played havoc for us and other advertisers at the show.
The Pitchcare/PILA booths looked good with plenty of material to read and browse. The PILA team had samples from their great range of Rugby and AFL posts as well as Soccer goals and flag poles, while the Pitchcare stand had more information on our PILA posts as well as the cra
cking Toro Kombi marking machine and paint. It was a different sort of show for us- as we didn’t have our computers to show our famous magazine off. However we still managed to sign a good amount of members up using good old fashioned pens and paper.
As well as our booths, Synthetic grass and Rubber, Turf Drain, Macquarie Turf Technology, Turf Link, Campbell and Sustainable Turf were all present at the show.
On the Country Club booth was the exciting new electric hole changer. Coming from Europe and now being marketed and sold by Country Club down under is the Ecutter. The Ecutter has a 24volt rechargeable battery and does all the work for you. The Ecutter makes it really easy to deliver a clean cut dead straight flag time and time again. I was lucky enough to try the cutter on the demo arena, it was pretty much effortless to use; you just have to line up your two spirit levels stand on the plate and press the trigger. It’s that easy no more sore backs!
With environmental awareness becoming increasingly important in the turf industry, ESD have led the way with the latest fully closed loop wash down system, ‘Waste2Water’ which is now being introduced into Australia and New Zealand through Country Club International. Fitted with the latest ozone system, the ESD bioremediation system fully recycles up to three million litres of wash water containing chemical spills and wash residues. ESD Waste2Water is the world’s major supplier of golf course bioremediation wash down systems, with over 800 installed worldwide including Pebble Beach Golf Links, Wimbledon Tennis Club, the MCG, Metropolitan Golf Club, and many more.
Within the picturesque grounds of Kurri Kurri TAFE, several machinery demos were undertaken. First the guys from Sustainable Turf Renovations demonstrated the effectiveness of their Koro Recycling Topdresser on the mock-up cricket outfield. The machine carries out complete profile fracturing to 120mm in depth on sports
fields and 180mm on Racetracks. The final product is superior quality turf profile with greater aeration, de-compaction and infiltration, whilst recycling the soil eliminating top dressing costs. Everyone who observed the demonstration was very impressed by what the Topdresser could do and the high quality results it produced.
One other demonstration which caught a lot of attention was the CoreMaster aerators 1050 and 1560. CoreMaster’s revolutionary design and quick release tine system creates a very smooth and highly productive aerator, whilst preserving the playing surface with no heaving. This machine can aerate with solid tines, hollow core to 7 inches in depth and quadra tine, producing high quality vertical holes. The demonstratio
n of the CoreMaster was undertaken on a mock-up couch bowling green displaying the versatility and efficiency of the machine. Most bystanders were amazed by the supreme results and preservation of the playing surface which the CoreMaster delivered.
All in all the day was a big success with a few hundred in attendance at the fantastic venue of Kurri Kurri TAFE. Pitchcare Oceania thanks all STA staff for organising the event and we look forward to next year’s show!
Kind Regards,
Rob and Simon
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Pitchcare Oceania headed up to Kurri Kurri TAFE Campus for the one day seminar and trade show.
cking Toro Kombi marking machine and paint. It was a different sort of show for us- as we didn’t have our computers to show our famous magazine off. However we still managed to sign a good amount of members up using good old fashioned pens and paper.
Within the picturesque grounds of Kurri Kurri TAFE, several machinery demos were undertaken. First the guys from Sustainable Turf Renovations demonstrated the effectiveness of their Koro Recycling Topdresser on the mock-up cricket outfield. The machine carries out complete profile fracturing to 120mm in depth on sports
fields and 180mm on Racetracks. The final product is superior quality turf profile with greater aeration, de-compaction and infiltration, whilst recycling the soil eliminating top dressing costs. Everyone who observed the demonstration was very impressed by what the Topdresser could do and the high quality results it produced.
n of the CoreMaster was undertaken on a mock-up couch bowling green displaying the versatility and efficiency of the machine. Most bystanders were amazed by the supreme results and preservation of the playing surface which the CoreMaster delivered.
