Fast And Furious At The Halfway Mark

COMPETITION remains fast and furious at the Golden Shears 2012 World Championships as the Olympics of shearing and woolhandling competition passes the halfway mark.
New Zealand’s premier shearing competition, in its 52nd year and being run alongside the 15th World Shearing Championships, began with a bang with big crowds, close competition and an unprecedented number of entries.

At the start of day three of competition for Golden Shears, and day two of World Championship action at Masterton’s War Memorial Stadium, old titles have fallen and new champions have already been named.

The majority of the past days’ competitions have involved a process of elimination leading up to finals over the next day and a half.

Competition started on Wednesday in what has been billed the biggest ever World Shearing Championships and Golden Shears contest ever seen in Masterton’s hosting history. Six world titles and 20 Golden Shears titles are up for grabs for the 540 competitors representing 25 countries.

Golden Shears vice-president and chief referee Philip Morrison said entries across all divisions, from novice through to the open in both shearing and woolhandling had been explosive.

“We had 78 in the junior division alone and that is more than 20 ahead of most years. We have had 60 plus in the seniors where that class used to be down to the 40s.”

Some hopefuls were forced to hang up their shears before competition even begun, he said.

“We had to turn people away this time. For almost the first time ever we didn’t take late entries. The senior class was right up to the maximum we could cope with even weeks before the contest begun.”

And without the sheep, there are no shears. A total of 4652 sheep will have been mustered in and out of the venue by the time competition ends tomorrow night.

Meanwhile, for the joint-youngest ever Golden Shears champion and winner of the novice-shearing event, Josh Balme, 13, he has done his bit and can now focus his attention on supporting his father, Te Kuiti gun shearer Digger, who will compete in the open shearing heats tonight.

The Open title is regarded as the pinnacle of competitive shearing and the start of heats will see high-calibre performances from a field of 110.
The top 30 will be named tonight and a nail-biting final is shaping up for Saturday. The top echelon of Kiwi shearers are all in the mix after strong performances over the season of competitions nationwide – including current world champion Cam Ferguson, reigning Golden Shears champion John Kirkpatrick, 16-time Shears winner David Fagan, past winner Dion King and in-form Hawke's Bay-based Northlander Rowland Smith.

www.goldenshears.co.nz

ENDS

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