Otago title win No 663

David Fagan  after winning his 18th  Otago Shears title in Balclutha on Saturday. Photo supplied.
David Fagan after winning his 18th Otago Shears title in Balclutha on Saturday. Photo supplied.
Shearing legend David Fagan signed off as a winner after picking up yet another Otago Shears title at the weekend.

Fagan (53), of Te Kuiti, farewelled Balclutha's Otago Shearing and Woolhandling Championship with his 18th win in the event's open final on Saturday.

Success when competing on Saturday gave him his 633rd shearing title in a career spanning 37 years, having begun at the age of 21 with his first Otago Shears title in 1983.

''You always remember those first wins,'' Fagan said.

''It really put the fire in my belly for the future, and here we are.''

Shearing Sports New Zealand media officer Doug Laing said Fagan showed no signs of slowing down as he ''ripped right into it'' at the start of Saturday's open final.

''He doesn't do a lot of shearing these days, but he can pretty much do it blindfolded.''

Fagan raced through 20 sheep in 18 minutes and 18 seconds, just nine seconds behind Scottish born Gavin Much, of Whangamomona, but the quality of Fagan's handiwork secured the title.

Fagan won the trophy he had given to event organisers more than a decade earlier, when he had then thought he might retire, Mr Laing said.

This time around, he planned to finish with a final tilt at the New Zealand Championships in Te Kuiti from April 7 9, but made it ''very clear'' this would be his last season.

The contest attracted about 130 shearers and woolhandlers.

-chris.morris@odt.co.nz

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