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The 19th National Koi Show 2010 - Cresta Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa
ZNA Local Certified Judge
The 19th National Koi show was held at Cresta Centre over the weekend of the 15th and 16th of May 2010 and was attended by 1756 Adults and 512 children. Looking back it was definitely the year of the "Two Ronny's"; Ronny Casey and Ronny Botha, who as show chairman and show engineer did a sterling job of the show site. In the words of show engineer; Mike Symonds, who passed away in 2003, "Every year we box better". Well these guys didn't just box better they won the golden gloves award.
The usual previous weekend setup did not happen as Cresta would only allow us access from Monday the 10th. This prompted the organising committee gurus into action and instead of carting the container to the show site and back, a truck was hired to convoy the contents from Pro Koi to Cresta. This proved to be a huge financial saving. This meant that site erection was shortened by two days and this is where the "Two Ronny's" excelled, not only being ready to allow the 21 dealers to start erecting their display stands by the Wednesday but having the vats filled with water in time for it to settle enough before Friday's benching. Thanks guys, a job well done!
Friday's benching; as usual, was well organised by Raj Lalloo and apart from the construction taking place on our roads which resulted in some entrants getting in a bit later than expected, benching progressed without a hitch.
Let us not forget the benching admin staff under the watchful eye of Maria-Anna Botha, this year we had Wouter de Lange; Eastern Cape Chapter chairman manning the computer, whilst Maria-Anna and Marlize Corrigan managed the paper work and files. Maria-Anna's dedication coming through once again, getting to bed at 3 o'clock in the morning to ensure that the admin work was complete and ready for the judges.
I am always fascinated by the transport methods undertaken by the hobbyist to get their koi to the show site. From Karl Engelbrecht who rigged out the back of his horsebox with containers and oxygen bottles to bring his fish the 600 km's up from Kwazulu Natal, to Mervin Sagathevan who had 20 koi between 42cm to 62cm taking up every available space in his Volvo sedan.
And for those statisticians amongst us:-
- Total entrants - 38
- Total koi entered - 596
- Size 1 - 86
- Size 2 - 108
- Size 3 - 74
- Size 4 - 67
- Size 5 - 71
- Size 6 - 103
- Size 7 - 47
- Size 8 - 30
- Size 9 - 10
- Shortest koi - 10cm
- Longest koi - 85cm
- Total length of koi entered - 241.99m
- Total weight of koi entered - 1044.22kg
Saturday morning started off bright and early with Mary Anne Harrison hovered around the judges and VIP's ensuring that all was well looked after in the catering department. All the judges were standing around anticipating the koi to be judged whilst Mike Harvey got in that last cigarette before the long walk ahead. This year we were fortunate enough to have as our Chief Judge, Mr Hayashi from Japan, Fred Ernsting and Mark Kleijkers from Holland and Alan Tait from the United Kingdom who I might add flew in from the UK on the Friday and flew back on the Sunday. Our international judges were joined by our local judges Mike Harvey, Harry Beckx, Brian Welch, Rene Schoenmaker, Jim Phillips and making up the tail end, our two trainee judges Chris Jankovich and Willem de Daffue.
A big thank you needs to go to Reggie Phillips and Peter who were on water duty once again. A huge amount of effort from numerous people goes into setting up and running a show but the most important aspect of the show are still the koi. Transporting koi to and from shows places a huge amount of stress on them and with pristine water conditions stress levels are alleviated, reducing the possibility of fatalities.
Paul Coetzee's 83cm Sanke deservingly took top honours and with a majority vote from the judges was awarded Supreme Grand Champion. Reserve Grand Champion went to Karl Engelbrecht's 74cm Kohaku and Jumbo Champion went to Agi Constantino's 78 cm Sanke. Unlike our European counterparts, Jumbo Champion is not always the longest koi on show but a koi usually from the largest size group that portrays a dominate presence.
This being the Japanese Embassy's 100th year celebration with South Africa we were honoured to be visited by His Excellency, Ambassador Ozawa and his wife, who meandered through the vats and marveled at the top quality koi on display. We were also treated to a traditional Japanese tea ceremony by Miss Kitahara and listening to the explanation of the tea ceremony principles being harmony, respect, purity and serenity I can well believe that in the correct tranquil setting it would leave one feeling content and relaxed.
Saturday night was met by what we South Africans know best, meat, meat and more meat; this year's function was so well attended that the committee have to consider making the VIP tent larger in years to come. The auction was a huge success, raking in just over R26 000 of which I'm sure Chris Du Plessis was the major contributor; a big thank you to all the dealers and hobbyist who contributed. Unlike the big prizes taken by their koi, the KZN boys' arms seemed a bit short for those deep pockets of their board shorts. Come now guys; leave something behind for the Jo'burg, not just empty spaces where once trophies were on display.
Sundays prize giving was full of pomp and flare with Mr. Hayashi awarding Jim Phillips, Kevin Harrison, Larry Hubbard, Oosie Strydom and Raj Lalloo their ZNA Local Certified Judges status. If memory serves me correctly, South Africa now has the most ZNA Local Certified judges outside of Japan in the world, that considering we have the most intensive and comprehensive judges training course too. Well done guys, we all deserve it!
A very emotional Chris Neaves was presented with a beautiful leather bound Koi Health and Nutrition manual which he has painstakingly revised for the Koi Society. Chris, thank you for your dedication to the koi hobby over the past years and I trust for years to come.
In closing, I would like to take this opportunity in thanking everyone who had a hand in organising, running or managing the 19th National Koi show. From Cresta Centre for the use of their premises, to the front entrance, to the SAKKS stand, to site erection and breakdown, right down to security and cleaning staff. Without your time and dedication a show of such magnitude just cannot be held.