Shearing Sports New Zealand calendar for 2022-2023

Photo / File

The 2022-2023 Shearing Sports New Zealand calendar will kick off at the Merino Shears this Friday and Saturday, with impressive numbers after the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic.

More than 150 shearers and woolhandlers will compete over the two days, the first of 59 shows throughout the country up to Easter - including stand-alone shows, A and P shows and rural sports days.

The numbers are up from the 126 who competed 12 months ago when the championships belatedly marked its 60th anniversary.

The volume of entries has excited society chairman Lane McSkimming and his committee, after the disappointment of having to cancel the previous year due to the Covid-19 crisis.

Entries are up in almost all grades, comprising of open and senior shearing and open, senior, junior and novice woolhandling.

More than 50 have entered the open shearing championship alone, the heats of which make up the first round of this season's PGG Wrightson Vetmed National Shearing Circuit.

The Circuit, which incorporates the McSkimming Memorial Triple Crown, will also mark 50 years since the trophy's first qualifying round, at Alexandra in 1972.

The winners of the open shearing and woolhandling finals will each claim a berth in the New Zealand team for the resumption of the transtasman series in Bendigo, Victoria, on October 21.

Shearing Sports New Zealand Calendar

2022

September 30-October 1: New Zealand Merino Championships, Alexandra
October 7-8: New Zealand Spring Shears, Waimate
October 15: Poverty Bay A and P Show, Gisborne
Ellesmere A and P Show, Leeston
October 21: Great Raihania Shears (Hawke's Bay), Hastings
October 22: Northern A and P Show, Rangiora
October 29: Wairarapa A and P Show, Carterton
Ashburton A and P Show, Ashburton
November 5: Manawatū A and P Show, Feilding
Marlborough A and P Show, Blenheim
Get to the Point Gymkhana Shears, Pleasant Point
November 10-11: New Zealand Corriedale Championships, Christchurch
November 12: Central Hawke's Bay A and P Show, Waipukurau
November 19: Nelson A and P Show, Richmond
West Otago A and P Show, Tapanui
November 26: Taranaki Shears, Stratford
December 3: Whangarei A and P Show, Whangarei

2023

January 14: Peninsula Duvauchelle Shear, Duvauchelle
Kaikohe A, P and H Show, Kaikohe
January 20: Northern Southland Community Shears, Lumsden
January 21: Wairoa A and P Show, Wairoa
Golden Bay A and P Show, Takaka
Southland Shears, Winton A and P Show, Winton
January 22: Horowhenua A, P and I Show, Levin
January 28: Taihape A and P Show, Taihape
Tapawera Shears, Tapawera
January 29: Geyserland Agrodome Shears, Rotorua A and P Show, Ngongotaha
February 3: Dannevirke A and P Show, Dannevirke
February 4: North Kaipara A and P Show, Paparoa
Rangitikei Shearing Sports, Marton
Reefton Shears, Inangahua A and P Show, Reefton
February 6: Aria Waitangi Day Sports, Aria
February 11: Northern Wairoa A and P Show, Arapohue
Te Puke A and P Show, Te Puke
Otago Shears, Balclutha
February 17-18: Southern Shears, Gore
February 18: North Hokianga A and P Show, Broadwood
Ohura A and P Show, Ohura
Murchison A and P Show, Murchison
February 19: Counties Shears, Pukekohe
February 24: Taumarunui Shears, Taumarunui
February 25: Apiti Sports, Apiti
Kaikoura A and P Show, Kaikoura
February 26: Pahiatua Shears, Pahiatua
March 1: Wairarapa Pre-Shears Woolhandling, Mikimiki
March 2-4: Golden Shears International Championships, Masterton
March 4: Amuri A and P Show, Rotherham
March 11: Kumeu A and H Show, Kumeu
Cheviot A and P Show,Cheviot
Mayfield A and P Show, Mayfield
March 18: Warkworth A and P Show, Warkworth
Waimarino Shears, Raetihi
Methven Lamb Shears, Methven A and P Show, Methven
March 25: Waitomo Caves Sports, Waitomo
March 26: Flaxbourne A and P Show, Ward
March 30-April 1: New Zealand Shears, Te Kuiti
April 1: Oxford A and P Show, Oxford
April 7-8: Royal Easter Show, (Northern Shears), Auckland
April 10: Mackenzie A and P Show, Fairlie