To beat Sutton's mark Te Huia will have to average more than 80 ewes an hour. While the required rate is a sheep every 44.875secs that does not take into account the catching time of about 5secs a sheep and the regular gear maintenance ... a change of cutter about every 15 minutes, taking 10-15secs
Te Huia's first two attempts on the solo strongwool record were unsuccessful. Little went right on the first where, with just 149 shorn in the first run, the target was never going to be seriously challenged. Hopes for a record were abandoned after the fourth run and the judges withdrew but Te Huia shore on for a new personal best of 703. The second came in January this year in a boiling Benneydale shed. After 5- shearing and 427 sheep done Te Huia found himself 13 behind where he needed to be and that was that.
Te Huia is no newcomer to tackling -- and beating -- world records. He set the eight-hour record with a tally of 603 shorn at Moketenui, Bennydale, in December 2010 with tallies of 146, 152, 153 and 152 on the four two-hour runs of that day, an average of a sheep every 47.761secs. Along with Sam Welch, of Waikaretu, he also shares a two-stand nine-hours record of 1341, shorn at Te Hape in January 2012. There he shore a then-personal best of 674 with run tallies of 149, 133, 131, 133, and 134.
And then in February of this year Te Huia smashed another world record when he shore 530 merino ewes in nine hours at Dubbo in New South Wales, the previous record of 513 having been set by fellow Kiwi Dwayne Black in 2005.
All told at least five world shearing records are expected to be tackled in New Zealand within the space of eight weeks from December to February possibly the biggest tallies season since records were first officially recognised almost 50 years ago.
Kicking off things will be the bid to set a three-stand strongwool ewes record over eight hours at Big Hill Station, west of Hastings, on December 22, featuring Hawke's Bay shearers Errol and nephew Kalin Chrystal and Shelford Wilcox, from Gisborne.
South Island-based shearers Ringakaha Paewai and Aidan Copp will attempt to get a second entry in the record books when they are joined by Peter-Lee Ratima in a King Country woolshed on January 7 in a bid on the three-stand eight-hour lambs record of 1784, which was set in January 1999. Paewai and Copp shore 618 and 586 respectively in a five-stand record last January.
In the only other challenge confirmed, six Herlihy brothers from Taranaki are angling for the vacant six-stand lambs record for eight hours, possibly heading for the biggest tally in any record attempt since a 9-hour record for six stands in Southland in 2005.
Their big day is scheduled for January 26 at Paparatu Station, near Gisborne.
Plans are also afoot for Southland shearer Leon Samuels to tackle Te Huia's eight-hour ewes record of 603 in Southland with a target date of February 8, while a week later Australian shearer Beau Guelfi, who also shears in the Gisborne area for part of each year, is expected to attempt a solo record on merino wethers. He will target the eight-hour record of 466 set by Australia-based New Zealand shearer Cartwright Terry in 2003.
Meanwhile, even though he's retired from competing, Te Kuiti shearing legend David Fagan just keeps on winning. The five-time world champion and 16-times Golden Shears champion has been crowned Waitomo District Sportsperson of the Year.
He was also named Sporting Personality of the Year and received a standing ovation from the 300-strong crowd for his contribution to the Waitomo community, much of it at the New Zealand Championships in the community cultural centre where the awards were held.
The triumph makes him an automatic finalist in the Waikato Sports Awards in January, having previously won the Waitomo award in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2010, and two titles at the Waikato awards -- the teams title with Alan MacDonald in 1995 and the Fair Play title two years later.
