Poverty Bay sheep dog trials legend Merv Utting MNZM, after winning his fifth New Zealand Championships long head title, this time with Bob. Photo / Supplied
Poverty Bay sheep dog trials legend Merv Utting MNZM, after winning his fifth New Zealand Championships long head title, this time with Bob. Photo / Supplied
Legendary Poverty Bay sheep dog trialist Merv Utting has done it again, winning two more titles at the North Island and New Zealand championships.
The championships, which were first held in 1911, took place over six, mainly-wet days at Meringa Station, east of Taumarunui and ended on Saturday.
Utting, 79, won both the North Island and national long head titles with dog Bob at the champs.
It was his 20th win in the annual round of North Island, South Island and New Zealand Championships, since his first in 1979.
Of Utting's seven New Zealand Championships titles, five have now been in the long head, his first having been at Mararoa, near Te Anau, in 1980.
His eight North Island championships titles included wins in all four classes of the long head, short head and yard, and the zig-zag and straight hunts, and he had also won five South Island heading dog championships.
Meanwhile, North Canterbury trialist Neil Evans, of Omihi, won the national short head and yard title, blocking a North Island east coast clean sweep of the eight titles on offer.
It was a second green tie for Evans, who won the long head with Rose at Gore in 2010 and had also won three Island titles.
The hunts were won by trialists from two near-neighbour clubs in Hawke's Bay and Poverty Bay, each in their first New Zealand Championship runoff.
Ruie Bridge, of Waingake, between Wairoa and Gisborne, claimed the zig-zag title with Flash.
The pair did it the hard way, qualifying fifth on their midweek run and doing easily the best in an otherwise low-scoring national title runoff - their first at the championships series.
Wairoa club member Ned George won the straight hunt, having qualified for the runoff in third place.
Tom Manson, of Mohaka, also in Northern Hawke's Bay, won both North Island hunts titles with sheep dog Buck, a big moment for a three-generation Manson representation at the championships.
Ruie Bridge. Photo / Supplied
His father, Neil, and son Bennett did not reach the runoffs, although Bennett, at his first championships, was on the zig-zag leaderboard until the last call before the runoff.
New Zealand team captain and winner of three NZ titles, Guy Peacock, of Makotuku, won the North Island short head and yard title with Slim.
Merv Utting's impressive history as top dog of the sport
No stranger to success, Utting's impressive trialling pedigree resulted in him being awarded the MNZM in the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours for service to the sport.
He was also inducted as a member of the Gisborne Tairawhiti Sports Hall of Fame three years ago.
The longest Utting had gone between championship wins was from a national long head win in 1984 to a South Island short head and yard win in 1991 and from a national long head win in Blenheim in 2008 to his only other double, the North Island and New Zealand short head and yard titles in 2015 at Moawhanga, near Taihape.
Results from the 2022 North Island and New Zealand sheep dog championships at Meringa Station, Taumarunui, King Country, on May 30-June 4, 2022:
North Island Championships
Long head: Merv Utting, Bob (Poverty Bay), 97pts, 1; Graham Wellington, Rachel (Aria), 96.5pts, 2; Leo Jecentho, Tess (Karioi), 96pts, 3; Donald Fannin, Sam (Moawhango), 95.75pts, 4; David Sheild, Jack (Dannevirke), 95.5pts, 5; Graeme Cook, Glen (Whatatutu), 95pts, 6; Stuart Child, Brodie (Te Anga), 94.75pts, 7.
Short head and yard: Guy Peacock, Slim (Makotuku),98.5pts, 1; Guy Peacock, Chief (Makotuku), 97.75pts, 2; Neil Evans, Tess (Omihi), 97.5pts, 3; Eion Herbert, Bell (Tapawera), 97.25pts, 4; Stuart Millar, Laddie (Glenroy), 97pts, 5; Gavin Drake, Baldy (Mataroa), 96.75pts, 6; Kevin O'Connor, Jax (Waikoau), 96.5pts, 7.
