Craig 'Wiggy' Wiggins joins Dom George to discuss the adrenaline-filled world of harness racing, the importance of community events, and the serious issue of mental health in rural service industries.
Wiggins expresses his passion for harness racing, being invited to Clerk at the Grin's Night of Champions Event at Cambridge Harness Racing, where top trotters and pacers from Australia and New Zealand compete.
"So if you've got nothing to do and you're in the Waikato, come down there tomorrow night... and crack open a can of grins and enjoy the racing."
He then shifts the conversation to the Farming Family Day at the Races, a community event that provides a much-needed break for farming families, complete with BBQs, kids' activities, and a chance to witness some of the sport's finest drivers.
This event underscores the connection between rural life and the exhilaration of harness racing. Wiggins also touches on a more somber topic, the mental health challenges within the rural service industry. He reveals the unfortunate occurrence of mental health tragedies and underscores the need for better support and training.
"We've had two rural service industry mental health tragedies in this area just recently... The rural service industries are the ones that rock up on farm regularly and see those subtle changes and a lot of them don't actually have the training to handle those conversations," he explains.
He passionately urges the community to attend the upcoming AgriConnect event, designed to foster discussions on mental health and provide support to those in the rural service industry.
Listeners interested in Wiggy's work and rural advocacy can find more information on his website, leanonagate.co.nz, or the Facebook page 'Whatever With Wiggy'.
Listen to the full chat between Craig 'Wiggy' Wiggins and Dominic George above.
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