First South Island win for Henderson; 13th Otago Woolhandler of the Year title for Henare

Joel Henare won his 13th Otago Shears NZ Woolhandler of the Year title. Picture by Barbara Newton

If Northland shearer Toa Henderson hadn’t already signalled his presence as a challenger for the major shearing titles this summer, he did so when he won the Otago Shears open final on Saturday at Carterhope Estate woolshed, near Balclutha.

It was Henderson’s first win in the South Island, along with his second victory in five days over defending Golden Shears and New Zealand Shears opens champion Rowland Smith from Hawke’s Bay.

Henderson was first to finish on Saturday’s final, shearing the 20 sheep on the curved, six-stand Carterhope board in 17min 12.37sec and beating second-man-off and overall runner-up Leon Samuels, of Invercargill, by 19 seconds.

Mataura shearer Brett Roberts finished next in 17min 40.88sec.

It was a gallant return for Roberts after a significant hand injury ended his national crossbreds lambs title run mid-final at Winton on January 21.

With the second-best quality points, Henderson won by 1.7pts overall from Samuels.

Best quality points went to Nathan Stratford, also of Invercargill, helping him into third place, ahead of Smith.

Roberts, a winner in all four grades at Balclutha over the years ended up fifth, and Masterton shearer David Gordon came sixth.

It was Gordon’s sixth open final in the eight shows he’s contested in the New Year. He’s been a winner in all five grades from novice to open nationwide.

The Otago Shears is traditionally the first show in the lead-in to the Golden Shears, in Masterton on March 2-4.

Next in line is the Southern Shears in Gore this Friday.

After that, most of the leading contenders will head back to the North Island for the pre-Shears procession of the Taumarunui Shears (February 25), Apiti Sports Shears (February 25) and Pahiatua Shears (February 26).

The 32-year-old Henderson, from Kaiwaka, is increasingly well-primed, as he now has six wins under his belt this season.

His previous wins were at the Central Hawke’s Bay and Stratford A&P shows in November, Northland shows at Whangarei and Kaihohe in December and January, and the Aria Waitangi Day Sports and Otago in the last week.

He’s been in finals just once this season.

It was also a big day for champion woolhandler Joel Henare, who won the Otago Shears’ New Zealand Woolhandler of the Year open final for the 13th time — five times consecutively in 2008-2012 and eight times consecutively in 2015-2023 (there was no competition in 2022).

He will be targeting a ninth consecutive win in the Golden Shears open woolhandling, in which his 2018 win was the 100th of his open-class career.

Despite toying with retirement, he’s won another 29 but is bypassing a chance to go for his third world individual title this year as he focuses on the futures of his children.

Candy Hiri, of Mataura, was runner-up on Saturday, boosting yet again her chances for a place in the woolhandling team selection series final, which will also be held at the Golden Shears, and third place went to local South Otago woolhandler Cheri Peterson.

In other finals, Clay Harris, of Piopio, repeated an Aria and Balclutha senior shearing double, Australian Doltan Austin had his first New Zealand win in the intermediate final and Cody Waihape, of Mataura, won the junior title by just 0.1395pts from runner-up and Rangiora shearer Lydia Thomson, who was gunning for a ninth final win this season.

Charis Morrell, of Alexandra, won the senior woolhandling final, and Chloe Henderson, from Feilding, had her first win, in the junior woolhandling final.

Results  —

Shearing

Open final (20 sheep): Toa Henderson (Kaiwaka) 17min 12.37sec, 56.7185pts, 1; Leon Samuels (Invercargill) 17min 31.37sec, 58.4185pts, 2; Nathan Stratford (Invercargill) 18min 17.12sec, 58.806pts, 3; Rowland Smith (Maraekakaho) 17min 46.47sec, 58.8735pts, 4; Brett Roberts (Mataura) 17min 40.88sec, 60.294pts, 5; David Gordon (Masterton) 18min 45.62sec, 63.781pts, 6.

Senior final (12 sheep): Clay Harris (Piopio) 13min 53.97sec, 44.4485pts, 1; Adam Gordon (Masterton) 14min 20.9sec, 48.8783pts, 2; Alex Clapham (Manchester, England) 14min 37.1sec, 50.0217pts, 3; Josef Winders (Invercargill) 14min 17.19sec, 50.7288pts, 4; Gabriel Winders (Invercargill) 15min 24.87sec, 56.2435pts, 5; James Wilson (Ryall Bush) 16min 23.78sec, 60.2723pts, 6.

Intermediate final (5 sheep): Doltan Austin (Edenhope, Vic) 7min 10.65sec, 29.3325pts, 1; Jack Pringle (Balclutha) 8min 24.35sec, 30.2175pts, 2; Lachlan Reichet (Adelaide, S.A.) 7min 49.21sec, 3 .8635pts, 3; Destiny Paikea (Heriot) 8min 59.16sec, 31.558pts, 4; Jordan White (Balclutha) 8min 18.5sec, 32.525pts, 5; Ged Leerson (Colac, Vic) 7min 35.56sec, 35.778pts, 6.

Junior final (4 sheep): Cody Waihape (Mataura) 8mi 9.12sec, 32.206pts, 1; Lydia Thomson (Rangiora) 8min 6.91sec, 32.3455pts, 2; Emma Martin (Gore) 8min 28.41sec, 33.6705pts, 3; James Hogan (Invercargill) 9min 16.47sec, 38.5735pts, 4; Gethin Williams (Henllan, Wales) 8min 3.28sec, 39.664pts, 5; Connor Wilkinson (Wyndham) 10min 12.65sec, 40.3825pts, 6.

New Zealand Woolhandler of the Year

Open final: Joel Henare (Gisborne/Motueka); 102.224pts, 1; Candy Hiri (Mataura) 126.694pts, 2; Heaven Little (Balclutha) 163.462pts, 3; Cheri Peterson (Milton) 186.35pts, 4.

Senior final: Charis Morrell (Alexandra) 127.63spts, 1; Krome Elers (Mataura) 145.06pts, 2; Autumn Waihape (Mataura) 156.912pts, 3; Stoneigh Waihape (Mataura) 183.404pts, 4.