Strong man Chris Latham set a new national record in the Bay of Plenty Strongest Man contest at the Tauranga A&P Show at the weekend.

Coming in third overall, Chris set a New Zealand record for the lightweight – men under 90kgs – in the 20kg weight for height event at Tauranga Racecourse.

Matthew Ragg wins the title of Bay's strongest man. Photo: Supplied.

The overall contest was won by Matt Ragg, who weighs 130.2kgs, and Johnno McFarlane, whose weight totals 138.7kgs, placed second.

Matt and Johnno tied on points which, as with international competitions, sees the lighter man win the contest.

The inaugural dog jumping contest proved to be a real crowd-pleaser at the event attended by about 8000 people, say organisers. Run for the first time at a NZ A&P Show, there were three categories dogs according to the animal's height.

'The antics of the contestants were highly entertaining and this is sure to become a popular event for future shows,” says organiser Sue McDonald.

The Home Industries division enjoyed a record number of entries, as did the Show Hunter horse events, which were run for the second time at Tauranga.

Western Riding was well supported with entries and the harness horses and cattle, whilst smaller competitions, were popular with spectators.

Welsh champion Gareth Daniel and teammate Richard Jones beat an invitation team of Kiwis Mark Grainger and Jack Fagan in the first match of the Wales team's seven-event, four-test Elders Primary Wool Shearing Series, preceding the World Championships in Ireland in May.

The buskers' competition, held for the first time at the 2014 show, was won by Josh Pow, with popular performances also by No Licence, Johnnie Ray and accordion players Angus and Angus.

Individual Strongest Man event winners are:

• Log lift – Current NZ record holder (at 162kg) won the event after an unsuccessful record attempt at 163kg
• Weight for Height – Matt Ragg won the event with a throw of 17 feet after an unsuccessful record attempt at 18 feet 2 inches
• Farmers Walk – Johnno McFarlane won, walking 50metres in 27.74 seconds with the weights
• Tyre Flip – winner Matt Ragg flipped the 300kg tyre 8 times in 25 seconds. Last year's winner, Reuben de Jong, did 8 flips in 20.4 seconds and the all-time record for the event is 19.85 seconds.