Jack Fagan (left) pips event favourite Jimmy Samuels to successfully defend the Rural Games speed shearing title in Palmerston North. Photo / SSNZ
Jack Fagan (left) pips event favourite Jimmy Samuels to successfully defend the Rural Games speed shearing title in Palmerston North. Photo / SSNZ
All roads, (or what seemed to be just about all of them), were paved with gold for Te Kuiti shearer Jack Fagan when he won the New Zealand Rural Games Speed Shear titles this weekend.
Fagan embarked on a rugged travel schedule, which started with a flight from Hamilton to Christchurch, followed by a 110km drive from Christchurch to the Mayfield A and P Show.
He then travelled the 142km from Mayfield to Sefton on Saturday, and the next morning started the drive from Sefton to Christchurch Airport and then a flight to Palmerston North.
Fagan's trip was definitely worth it, as he defended his win from last year, and was now the first competitor with two New Zealand Rural Games Speed Shear titles under his belt.
Overall it was the 42nd speed shear win for Fagan, who is the son of inaugural 2015 Rural Games Speed Shear winner Sir David Fagan.
It was a successful weekend for Fagan, with fourth place in the Mayfield A and P Show's open shearing final on Saturday afternoon, and a $2500 first prize in the Anglers Arms speed shear in Sefton on Saturday night.
However, Fagan wasn't the only one clocking up the kilometres.
Of the 10 invited for the games' speed shear in the Palmerston North square, six had also competed at Mayfield and Sefton the previous day, including Marton shearer and 2018 Rural Games speed shear winner Jimmy Samuels.
Laura Bradley (right) in triumph watching opponent Ingrid Smith complete the Women's challenge. Photo / SSNZ
With 53 wins to his name in speed shear events, but having not made the trip south, Samuels seemed to justify his position as favourite at the TAB, as he was top qualifier in the first three rounds and semi-final in Palmerston North - as the field was cut by the two slowest at each stage.
Shearing first-shear lambs aged about six months, Samuels twice shore 19.06 seconds for a single lamb, the fastest times of the day, but was unable to carry it through to the final of two lambs each.
King Country gun Fagan shore the pair in 47.34sec, Rangitikei ace Samuels, shore his final in 49.52sec.
Fagan described the scene "out back" as tense, despite the camaraderie of the shearers, who were passengers together on an aircraft in the morning, but fierce combatants on the shearing board just four hours later – changing combs and preparing the gear in the mere minutes between sheep as the day, the sheep and the contest heated up.
"I nearly bombed out in the first round, which showed how tough it was," he said, recalling the first of his two first-round lambs, a 27.64sec effort which placed him at sudden-death a few minutes later, salvaged with a 23.44sec shear which placed him sixth of eight going into Round 2.
Regular top-three rival Paerata Abraham, of Masterton, and veteran 2020 beaten finalist Digger Balme, of Otorohanga, finished third and fourth, being eliminated in the semi-finals.
Fagan and Samuels are also fighting out the finish of the JR Memorial Speed Shear Circuit, with Samuels holding a 1pt lead going into the final round at the New Zealand Shears, being held in Te Kuiti on April 8-10.
There is a separate speed shear at Urenui on March 27.
Final Rural Games New Zealand Speed Shearing Championship placings at Palmerston North on Sunday:
Jack Fagan (Te Kuiti) 1, Jimmy Samuels (Marton) 2, Paerata Abraham (Masterton) 3, Digger Balme (Otorohanga) 4, Rowland Smith (Maraekakaho) 5, Brett Roberts (Mataura) 6, Toa Henderson (Kaiwaka) 7, Leon Samuels (Invercargill) 8, Lionel Taumata (Gore) 9, Ringakaha Paewai (Gore) 10.
