The competition, now an institution at the Royal Sydney Show, has taken to the road in a pilot program bringing the competition to regional areas.

RAS senior manager of agricultural development and youth initiatives Jodie Dean said the competition, held at the Australian National Field Days, was a head-to-head event for people aged 18 to 35.

“We put them through their paces and they compete in a series of tasks that they would need to do from week to week on the farm,” Ms Dean said.

Ms Dean said the RAS had run the event at the Sydney Show for the past few years and loved the opportunity to take it out to regional areas and get more people involved.

“We’re encouraging young people to get involved in rural NSW, celebrating great things they’re already doing and highlighting it to audiences,” she said.

The judges and equipment sponsors were on hand to ensure the competitors had the correct protective gear in place, such as seatbelts in the vehicle challenge and chainsaw brakes in place.

Trying to attempt a challenge without safety gear would result in a time penalty.

“There is a huge emphasis on skills, equipment, and in particular, safety,” she said.

In the interest of this safety message, Essential Energy got on-board as major sponsors.

Essential Energy safety manager David Harris said they wanted to raise awareness of the importance of trees and overhead powerlines.

He said land managers needed to be aware of the potential fire hazard that could be created by growing vegetation near powerlines.

As part of their challenges, competitors were given a fact sheet and had to select an appropriate species to plant, and pace it out to a safe distance from the powerlines.

Member of the RAS youth group committee Brett Davey said the competition was a fun way to engage youth in agriculture.

“This is the first time we’ve held it outside Sydney,” he said.

“It is good for the RAS to expand and hold events outside of the Sydney region and develop relationships with rural members.”

The competition involved several heats before the grand final saw the winners emerge as the Trangie Tritons duo of Lachlan Samuels and Rodney McInnerney.