Manawatu, Ellesmere Join List Of Shearing Competition Cancellations

The shearing sports season has suffered another blow with the cancellation of shearing at the Ellesmere A and P Association’s 150th anniversary Selwyn Show.

The association decided on Monday night some events at a downscaled show at Leeston on October 16 will go ahead under Covid-19 Delta Level 2 conditions – without public admission and with other precautions in place.

But shearing convener Jason Palmer confirmed the shearing competition won’t be able to go ahead, and it is off for a second year in a row.

Already cancelled were the Poverty Bay, Hawke’s Bay, Wairarapa and Northern (Rangiora) shows which were to have been held in October, and the Manawatu and West Coast A and P Show which was to have been held in Feilding on November 6-7.

Rangiora shearing organisers have been considering options for still going ahead with their event on October 23.

The Central Hawke’s Bay A and P committee will meet tonight (Tuesday) to consider whether its November 11-13 show will go ahead in Waipukurau, and in the South Island decisions are expected this week on the possibilities for the Ashburton A and P Show (September 29-30), and the Canterbury Shears at the New Zealand Agricultural Show scheduled for Christchurch on November 10-12.

The Wairarapa, Ellesmere, Rangiora, Manawatu and Canterbury shows were all cancelled last year, but the Canterbury Shears were still held, in a woolshed near Hanmer Springs.

While a big hit on the shows and farming communities, the North Island cancellations this season are particularly devastating for attempts to bolster the North Island Woolhandling Circuit, of which the four cancelled shows and the under-threat CHB show are all a part.

While it’s hit hard at the A and P shows, stand-alone shearing and woolhandling championships the 60th New Zealand Merino Shears, cancelled in 2020, went ahead successfully in Level 2 conditions in Alexandra last Friday and Saturday, setting the standard for second stand-alone competition the Spring Shears in Waimate this week.

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