Eketahuna shearer Hemi Braddick who, despite the conditions, shore the 20-sheep open final in under 17 minutes. Photo / SSNZ
Eketahuna shearer Hemi Braddick who, despite the conditions, shore the 20-sheep open final in under 17 minutes. Photo / SSNZ
Taihape’s famed gumboot throwing competition was cancelled but the shearing still went ahead, in a classic day of making it happen amid torrential rain on Saturday.
However, the Taihape A and P Show’s 60th shearing and Woolhandling Championships would have been cancelled, had it not been for three tractors making sure the near-record entry of 159 shearers and woolhandlers had sheep to shear.
Local shearing contractor Stu Munro, convenor of the committee of three that puts the competition together, was determined the Shears would go ahead, despite the possibilities that faced him when he got up before four in the morning and headed down to the six-stand open-sided shearing pavilion, in its picturesque natural amphitheatre setting.
With many of the competitors already in the area or on their way, from as far as Northland and Hawke’s Bay, Munro couldn’t see how the sheep trucks would get in and out of the venue – until he rang agricultural contractors Joe and Tash Coogan.
As a result, the Shears was ultimately the only event not cancelled after an anniversary delayed a year by Covid-19 restrictions.
The competitions went ahead, with 108 shearers across the five shearing grades from novice to open, and 51 entries across the four woolhandling grades - which also needed some innovation to ensure they went ahead with minimal wetting of the wool.
The organisers, including World Champion woolhandler and Taihape schoolteacher Sheree Alabaster, decided to do away with the blending component of the second-shear competition.
The tractors brought in by contractors Joe and Tash Coogan to ensure the sheep trucks could get in and out with the stock. Photo / SSNZ
This meant that, without any blending penalty points, multiple World Champion Joel Henare’s 128th win came with possibly the lowest score ever in an open woolhandling final in New Zealand.
Meanwhile, fellow former World Champion Rowland Smith was pushed to the limit by Wairarapa shearer Hemi Braddick in the open shearing final.
Smith claimed a win by just 0.05pts, only a week after featuring in a tied result with Scottish shearer Gavin Mutch at Wairoa, broken only by Mutch’s superior quality points on the day.
Braddick led the race almost throughout Saturday’s final, as the rain increased, driving ever-closer to the shearing board, and shore the 20 sheep in 16min 58sec, beating Smith off the board by just six seconds.
Corey Barrowcliffe, of Pio Pio, fifth in the senior shearing final. Photo / SSNZ
Smith’s better quality in judging in the pen was just enough to erase Braddicks advantage on time and board judging points to claim the win in the overall count.
One of the shears of the day came from 2017 World Champion John Kirkpatrick, in his 28th season of open-class shearing.
While Kirkpatrick was last to finish (17min 58sec) he still claimed third place, with the best pen-judging points from any of the finals.
Joseph Gordon, of Masterton, won the senior shearing final by 2.7pts from Piopio shearer Clay Harris, who’d gone under a minute a sheep in shearing the pen of 10 in 9min 39.2 sec.
Shearers from the UK claimed two titles, with Sam Green, from England, winning the intermediate final, and Elis Jones the junior final.
Novice honours went to newbie Ngawaka Karaitiana, part of a significant team of competitors from Piopio.
Ashleigh Ostler, of Marton, made a successful return to competition after about 18 years away to win the senior woolhandling title, and Piopio claimed the two other titles, with Mykayla Barrowcliffe winning the senior final and Crystal Newton the novice honours.
The woolhanding judges finish their day. Photo / SSNZ
Results from Taihape A and P Show Shears at Taihape on Saturday, January 28, 2023
