Waimate Shears judged a success

Open blade shearer Brian Thomson, from West Melton, finished second.PHOTO: SOPHIE BAKER PHOTOGRAPHY
Open blade shearer Brian Thomson, from West Melton, finished second.PHOTO: SOPHIE BAKER PHOTOGRAPHY
The 47th annual Waimate Shears were judged a huge success last weekend.

The Waimate Stadium was filled with spectators on the Friday night and throughout Saturday, to watch 150 entrants show their skills.

''It was good to see a lot of locals come along,'' Waimate Shears president Warren White, a Waimate shearing contractor, said.

Shearers and woolhandlers from the district also boosted the entry numbers.

''There's always good representation from the locals,'' Mr White said.

Tectra training courses had helped upskill the industry, with graduates keen to test their abilities in the competition arena, he said.

Ant Frew, from Oamaru, won the open novice final, Waimate's Corey White was first in the intermediate section, and Corey Smith, of Rakaia, was runner-up in the senior final.

A highlight of the event was a blade shearing transtasman contest - the first time it has been included at the Waimate Shears. New Zealand representatives Brian Thomson and Tony Dobbs triumphed over Australians John Dalla and Ken French.

Mr White said he hoped the transtasman competition would become a regular fixture in Waimate. It was allocated by Shearing Sports New Zealand, which was ''happy'' with how well it went at the weekend, he said.

The open section featured some of the world's finest shearers, Mr White said. Te Kuiti's David Fagan, who was trounced by defending title-holder Cam Ferguson, from Waipawa, has been crowned World Champion five times. Now aged 53, he has been a top performer since he was an 18-year-old.

Ferguson, a former World and Golden Shears champion, put in one of the fastest times in the history of New Zealand Spring Shears open championship finals. He shore 16 full-woolled sheep in 16min 31.77sec - the first time since 2010 that anyone has gone under 17 minutes.

Fagan was more than 30 seconds behind and sixth-placed Eli Cummings, of Pleasant Point, was almost two sheep back.

Fagan made up some of the gap with points for superior quality, but the best quality came from 2014 PGG Wrightson National Circuit champion and newly-acclaimed Master Shearer Nathan Stratford, of Invercargill. The winner of six Spring Shears Open finals was placed third on Saturday.

Mr White was full of praise for the efforts of the organising committee, which ran everything so smoothly that the open final was only one minute late in starting.

Five local farmers had gone to a lot of trouble to supply sheep, mostly Romneys, for the two days: Mark Murphy, Russell Hart, Dave Scott, and Peter and John Hughes.

The committee was ''starting to build up to the 50th'' Waimate Shears, Mr White said. He hoped it would be able to be held in the new stadium planned for the town.

The event was a major economic boost for the area, he said. Many people stayed overnight to take in both days of competition.

A bar was available in the stadium and the Waimate under-12 rugby team ran a catering service as a fundraiser.

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