Two young shearers have given Masterton a good chance of early hometown success in this week's Golden Shears and world championships after qualifying for all three junior finals in a big pre-shears weekend across the central North Island.
It was a big moment for 15-year-old Dylan McGruddy, whose move home from Australia was rewarded with his first appearance in a final in New Zealand and was celebrated with a win at the Taumarunui Jamboree Shears.
Third was Ethan Pankhurst, a 20-year-old Masterton shearer's son and second-year Lincoln University student who had already won four finals in the South Island, including the prestigious Otago championship a fortnight earlier.
On Saturday, Pankhurst was fourth and McGruddy fifth in an Apiti Sports final won by Paul Hodges of Geraldine and yesterday at the Pahiatua Shears McGruddy was third and Pankhurst fourth, behind winner Andrew Leith of Dipton.
Only the two Wairarapa shearers qualified for all three finals, as hundreds of shearers and woolhandlers from around the world merged as an unofficial performing troupe headed for the Golden Shears.