Rain puts record attempt in jeopardy

The pre-Christmas wet providing relief for some North Island farmers could not have come at a worse time for King Country shearer Stacey Te Huia as he prepares for his second tilt at the world eight-hour ewe-shearing record tomorrow.
Weather conditions have meant the sheep being readied for Te Huia's attempt at Motekenui Station, near Benneydale, are also wet and the wait is on to see if they will be dry for a wool weigh this afternoon. Rules are the fleeces shorn before the judges must not average less than 3kg a sheep.
That the rain is expected to ease is good news but there is still a chance Te Huia may have to wait until at least Thursday or even postpone his record bid until after Christmas.
To become the world's best, Te Huia has to beat the figure of 578 ewes shorn by Hawke's Bay-based Far North shearer Matthew Smith at Waitara Station, near Te Pohue in Hawke's Bay, on January 15 this year. Just four days after Smith's effort, Te Huia reached a mark of 573 himself. He had roped in some high-profile support to help increase his numbers on that occasion, including world teams woolhandling champions Sheree Alabaster and Keryn Herbert.
Motekenui Station has become famous for successful world record shearing efforts. Other Hawke's Bay guns Dion King and Rodney Sutton respectively set new marks for the nine-hour ewe and lamb records just three weeks apart in January 2007. The women's eight-hour solo and two-stand lambs records were set there almost two years later by university graduate Ingrid Baynes and her mother Marg, a Wairoa farmer.