Former world champion and seven-times Golden Shears open champion, Rowland Smith switches off after a dramatic winning performance at the Wairoa A and P Show on Saturday. Photo / SSNZ
Former world champion and seven-times Golden Shears open champion, Rowland Smith switches off after a dramatic winning performance at the Wairoa A and P Show on Saturday. Photo / SSNZ
Six leading hopes for open titles at the Golden Shears in Masterton in March have each got their new year under way confidently, with wins in one of the busiest weekends on the shearing sports calendar.
Five competitions were held from Kaikohe in the north to Winton in the south with the performances headed by farmer, shearer and six-times Golden Shears open finalist David Buick, who ventured from remote Pongaroa in northern Wairarapa to claim a national-titles double in Southland.
Buick won his first Northern Southland Community Shears national longwool championship in a woolshed near Lumsden on Friday, and a third consecutive Southland Shears national crossbred lamb shearing title at the Winton A and P Show on Saturday.
He has now won five finals this season.
Possibly the most remarkable was that of 2014 world champion and defending seven-times Golden Shears open champion Rowland Smith, of Maraekakaho, who won the Wairoa A and P Show's open title for a sixth time - despite an unscheduled hand piece change after a sheep kicked the gear clear and broke a comb tooth during the final.
Smith still managed to beat 2017 world champion and four-times Golden Shears champion John Kirkpatrick, of Pakipaki, both in the race over the 20 sheep each, and on the ultimate decider – the points.
Two-times Golden open finalist Troy Pyper travelled five hours from Cheviot to Takaka to win the Golden Bay A and P Show title, and Northland gun Toa Henderson, yet to make the Golden Shears final, won the Kaikohe AP and H Show final.
Wairarapa farmer David Buick, who ventured to the deep south for a national titles double on longwool ewes at Lumsden on Friday and crossbred lambs at Winton on Saturday. Photo / SSNZ
Top woolhandlers were also in on the act, with a popular and long-overdue victory for Southlander Chelsea Collie in the open woolhandling final in Lumsden.
Despite reaching many finals over the years, Collier, 33, hadn't won since a victory in her first open-grade final in Balclutha in 2005 - a New Zealand Woolhandler of the Year title that won her a place in the 2005-2006 New Zealand transtasman series team.
From Ohai, now based in Hamilton and working the current season in Masterton, Collier came third at Waimate and Hawke's Bay earlier in the season. In 2019 she reached both the Golden Shears and New Zealand Championships open finals, and the previous season she was runner-up in two national title events.
Meanwhile, it was a return to the script 24 hours later, when 2019 world teams champion Pagan Karauria successfully defended the lambs title in Winton, with her sixth win in the event.
Another big winner during the weekend was Masterton shearer Adam Gordon, who also ventured to the south to win the intermediate finals at both Lumsden and Winton, his third and fourth national titles this season.
Gordon also won intermediate titles at the New Zealand Spring championships in Waimate in October and the New Zealand Corriedale championships in a woolshed near Hanmer in November.
Aged just 20, Gordon was also the winner of the Golden Shears novice shearing and woolhandling finals just two years ago, and the No 1-ranked junior shearer nationally last season.
Gordon has more wins this season than any other competitor, being beaten just once in eight finals.
The season, cut from about 60 competitions to 49 amid the impact of the Covid-19 crisis and also sheep-supply issues, continues on Saturday with the Tapawera Sports Shears south of Nelson, and the Horowhenua AP and I Show shears in Levin on Sunday, with all eyes on the Golden Shears in Masterton on March 4-6 and the season-ending New Zealand championships in Te Kuiti on April 8-10.
Chelsea Collier, who won the national longwool championships open woolhandling title at Lowther Downs, near Lumsden, on Friday. A regular finalist, it was her first win since February 2005. Photo / Supplied
Shearing Sports New Zealand Results, January 15-16, 2021
Results from the Northern Southland Community Shears at Lumsden on Friday, January 15, 2021:
Open final: Chelsea Collier (Ohai/Hamilton) 166.474pts, 1; Monica Potae (Milton/Kennedy Bay) 170.5pts, 2; Foonie Waihape (Alexandra) 170.988pts, 3.
Senior final: Heaven Little (Balclutha) 143.16pts, 1; Cheyenne Howden (Feilding) 214.22pts, 2; Krome Elers (Mataura) 259.46pts, 3.
Junior final: Samantha Allen (Balclutha) 136.614pts, 1; Anne Cannell (Gisborne) 171.25pts, 2; Charis Morrell (Alexandra) 259.04pts, 3.
Results from the Kaikohe A.P. and H.Show shearing championships on Saturday, January 16, 2021:
Open final (12 sheep): Toa Henderson (Kaiwaka) 11min 12sec, 41.51pts, 1; Phil Wedd (Silverdale) 11min 31sec, 48.3pts, 2; Dan Berger (Ahuroa) 13min 47sec, 57.02pts, 3.
Results from the Southland Shears New Zealand crossbred lambs shearing and woolhandling championships at Winton A and P Show on Saturday, January 16, 2021:
Shearing:
Open final (20 lambs): David Buick (Pongaroa) 16min 35.12sec, 59.206pts, 1; Leon Samuels (Ohai) 16min 37.75sec, 59.7875pts, 2; Nathan Stratford (Invercargill) 19min 17.53sec, 62.8265pts, 3; Jimmy Samuels (Marton) 17min 34.15sec, 63.5575pts, 4; Hemi Braddick (Eketahuna) 17min 29.15sec, 63.6575pts, 5; Matene Mason (Masterton) 18min 21.43sec, 67.5715pts, 6.
Open Plate (10 lambs): Paerata Abraham (Masterton) 9min 32.43sec, 34.3215pts, 1; Brett Roberts (Mataura) 9min 20.82sec, 36.341pts, 2; Ringakaha Paewai (Gore) 10min 22.25sec, 36.9125pts, 3; Andy Mainland (Invercargill) 10min 31.06se, 37.653pts, 4; David Gordon (Masterton) 10min 10.72sec, 38.136pts, 5; Willy McSkimming (Taumarunui) 9min 16.65sec, 43.0325pts, 6.
