Nathan Stratford (centre) receives the Keith Fincham Memorial Trophy from NZ Corriedale Championships chairman James Dwyer (left) and deputy chairman Dave Brooker. Photo / SSNZ
Nathan Stratford (centre) receives the Keith Fincham Memorial Trophy from NZ Corriedale Championships chairman James Dwyer (left) and deputy chairman Dave Brooker. Photo / SSNZ
Southland shearing legend Nathan Stratford has won a lot of titles in over 30 years of competition shearing but he still had time for something different at the Canterbury Shears’ New Zealand Corriedale Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Christchurch last week.
On Friday, between winning the Corriedales open title for a fourth time, and a 15th West Otago A and P title in Tapanui on Saturday, he was also presented with the Keith Fincham Memorial Trophy.
It came as such a surprise that, while driving to the next competition, the right honourable “Stratty” was still wondering what it was for.
In fact, the Keith Fincham Memorial Trophy is awarded for the most outstanding contribution to the shearing section of the New Zealand Agricultural Show (formerly the Canterbury A and P Show).
It’s not presented every year, so Stratford might have missed seeing it a few times in the 32 years he’s competed in Christchurch.
With six wins behind him in the junior and intermediate classes at other shows, Stratford’s first appearance in a final at Christchurch was in 1994 when he won the senior title.
He’s won the open final in 2005, 2016, and 2019 and now this year.
He has also been runner-up eight times, from 2008 to 2011, then 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2022.
When he won the show’s Canterbury Circuit final in 2016 – a series that requires taking part in at least five competitions in the Canterbury region – he became only the third shearer to win all three of New Zealand’s all-breeds titles.
He’s now won the New Zealand Shears Circuit final in Te Kuiti three times and the National Circuit final at the Golden Shears in Masterton twice, and in Christchurch, he added to his CV the claiming of maximum points in this year’s PGG Wrightson Vetmed National Circuit for the third time in the three legs to date.
His achievements in shearing nationally were recognised in 2014 when he was acclaimed a Master Shearer by Shearing Sports New Zealand, he won a world teams title in Invercargill in 2017, and he’s now shorn more trans-Tasman tests than any other New Zealand shearer.
New Zealand Agricultural Show
Nathan Stratford at the Corriedales Championships in 2016 where he won the open title, the Canterbury All-Breeds Circuit, and a place in the NZ team for the 2017 World Champs. Photo / SSNZ
Friday’s open final in Christchurch was a top six-man contest, with Stratford beating runner-up and 2021 winner Angus Moore, of Seddon, by 2.69pts, with a further 1.73pts to Masterton shearer and reigning New Zealand Shears Circuit champion Paerata Abraham in third place, and defending Corriedales champion Jack Fagan, of Te Kuiti, a further 1.1pts away in fourth place.
Abraham made the pace, finishing the 12 sheep in 13min 51.46sec, beating next-man-off Moore by 22 seconds.
Stratford, finishing in 14min 46.44sec, made up the time-points deficit with markedly the best quality, including incurring just 11 penalties in the eyes of the judges on the shearing board, an average of less than one per sheep, and less than half the number incurred by any other shearer and equating to just 0.92 penalty points.
Read more about shearing and woolhandling events here.
Stratford’s one disappointment was his Southland team’s defeat in losing a Colin King Shield challenge to holders North Canterbury, which were headed by Rangiora shearer Hugh De Lacy, who also won the Canterbury Circuit final.
North Canterbury also fielded senior final winner and Rangiora-based Blake Crooks, and Southland was victorious again with intermediate winner Emma Martin and junior winner Jet Schimanski, both based in Gore.
Meanwhile, veteran blades shearer Tony Dobbs reckons he’s the youngest and the oldest to win the Shears’ Golden Blades title, 40 years after he first won the event, at the age of 21, in 1983.
His win, by 3.75pts from runner-up and current New Zealand teammate Allen Gemmell, of Loburn, guaranteed him a continued place in the New Zealand trans-Tasman team for 2024-2025.
West Otago A and P Show
Meanwhile, after a flight delay in Christchurch on Saturday and a drive of over an hour from Invercargill to Tapanui, Stratford almost missed out on competing at the West Otago A and P Show, where victory took him to 83 wins in open finals, including two in the UK.
He first won at Tapanui in the intermediate final in 1992, when there were 83 shearing sports competitions throughout the country, mainly at A and P shows.
He followed this up with a senior final two years later and first won the open final in 2000.
He’s already won at five competitions in the new season, which has 59 shows nationwide from the end of September to early April.
In a four-man final, Stratford produced the trademark quality for best points both on the shearing board and in the judging pens, but also pipped Mataura shearer Brett Roberts, by just under three seconds in the race for fastest time.
Stratford shore the 19 sheep in 17min 45.91sec, and beat Roberts by 2.65pts in the final count, with first-time open-finalist Jesse Barclay, of Mataura, claiming third place.
The other two finals at Tapanui were also won by shearers who had competed in Christchurch the previous day, where each had been runner-up.
Dre Roberts, of Mataura, claimed the senior title with a winning margin of 10 points, but there were just 0.0855pts in it in the intermediate final in which Cody Waihape turned the tables on fellow Gore-based shearer Emma Martin, whose win in Christchurch was her fifth intermediate win of the season.
The only remaining competition pre-Christmas in the South Island is at the Nelson A and P Show on Saturday, while the only North Island competition will be at the Stratford A and P Show.
The last competitions before Christmas are at the Whangārei and Rotorua A and P shows on December 2, but there will then be a busy run with World Record attempts before the first show competition of the New Year on January 13, at Duvauchelle.
The first record attempt will be on December 15 when Megan Whitehead and Hannah McColl challenge the women’s two-stand strong wool lambs record for eight hours near Gore, a tally of 903 set by Wairoa mother-and-daughter Marg and Ingrid Baynes in a King Country woolshed in 2009.
Results
Results of shearing events at the 56th anniversary Canterbury Shears’ New Zealand Corriedale Shearing and Woolhandling Championships at the New Zealand Agricultural Show, Christchurch, on Thursday-Friday November 16-17, 2023
Open final (12 sheep): Nathan Stratford (Invercargill) 14min 46.44sec, 50.99pts, 1; Angus Moore (Seddon) 14min 13.56sec, 52.68pts, 2; Paerata Abraham (Masterton) 13min 51.46sec, 54.41pts, 3; Jack Fagan (Te Kuiti) 14min 39.9sec, 55.51pts, 4; David Gordon (Masterton) 16min 14.63sec, 59.06pts, 5; Brett Roberts (Mataura) 16min 20.94sec, 59.13pts, 6.
Open Plate (11 sheep): Taare Edwards (Rakaia) 16min 48.53sec, 61.15pts, 1; James Ruki (Te Kuiti) 16min 9.47sec, 61.75pts, 2; Adam Gordon (Masterton) 16min 2.65sec, 62.68pts, 3; Duncan Leslie (Alexandra) 16min 16.79sec, 64.38pts, 4; Lionel Taumata (Gore) 18min 24.5sec, 66.77pts, 5; Alex Smith (Rakaia) 19min 31.19sec, 70.56pts, 6.
