Manawatu man finds his match

Mike Short was on the lookout for a wife.The Rural Bachelor of the Year competition seemed the perfect place to find one.

An annual event at the National Fieldays, the Rural Bachelor of the Year attracts dozens of applicants vying for the chance to win $20,000 worth of prizes. With that in mind, Mike didn’t need much convincing to enter the competition in 2009. After hearing an ad on the radio, a brief discussion with his three flatmates, and a quick look at the prize pool, he was sold.  A keen farmer from Manawatu, he thought competing against seven other guys for a chance to win $20,000 worth of prizes was a bit of him. Pretty much a week off work at the Fieldays, doing what I do every day. Why not? he thought.

Mike got along well with the bunch of guys he was competing against, and thoroughly enjoyed the crowd banter and involvement. “I’d just have a laugh with the crowd and do it a little bit different to everyone else.” The rural bachelor is judged on technical skills, innovation, effort to enthusiasm and crowd involvement, which Mike was obviously good at since he won the competition. It seems to Mike that his year was one of the best. “The guys they choose seem to get better and better every year. It was pretty feral at the start,” he says.

At the end of the event with $20,000 worth of prizes in pocket and the title of Rural Bachelor of the Year 2009, Mike returned home to the Manawatu to carry on his farming life.It wasn’t until 2010 when he was invited back to judge that he fully realised what a good time the event is. With no nerves about competing, he wasable to sit on the judging panel with no worries and had the chance to “take the piss” a bit more. He describes it as a bit of a holiday. In his words, he pretty much turned up, judged the event, and visited the sites. “I didn’t have any of those curfews or anything like you do if you’re competing.”

Mike’s return also gave him the chance to catch up with a Kiwi lass he was very interested in bumping into again. Mike met Ryley in 2009 when he was competing and she was events manager, but it wasn’t until he was judging the following year that she really caught his eye. With less of a commitment to the competition and his future love interest working at Mystery Creek, it was the perfect opportunity for a catch up. “We had a couple of yarns when I was competing, but nothing major. I bumped into her when I was judging. I remembered her, and was interested in bumping into her again.” After a few days of spending time together, there was no denying there was chemistry between them.

By 2011 when the eight winners of the competition came together to compete in the‘Best of the Best,’ most of the bachelors could no longer live up to that title. Many of them, including Mike, now had partners or wives. That made the competition less nerve-racking. “It was a good way to finish it up, wasn’t that competitive, more just catching up, telling yarns with all the boys. All our partners were there, it was much more mature than previous years,” he says.

The 2013 Rural Bachelor of the Year will be different, as there will be a bit of trans-Tasman rivalry for the first time. Three Australian blokes have been announced in the final eight to compete against our tough Kiwi fellas, which provides something new for the crowds to gawk at. Fieldays communication executive Vicki Annison says for their 45th anniversary they wanted some twists, which is why they added an “amazing race” element to the ruralbachelor competition as well as opening it up to the Aussies.“Due to the success of the previous years we thought it would be a great opportunityto let the Australians throw their hat in the ring and see if they have what it takes to compete with our Kiwi blokes.”

Mike thinks it’s a huge call bringing the Aussies over, but agrees that the organisers have to change it up every once in a while. As a previous winner, judge and now married man, he’s an advocate for the competition. To put it simply in his words: “It’s bloody good fun.”