Kahn Culshaw, of Ashburton, on his way to winning the Otago
junior shearing title in Balclutha yesterday. Photo by
Helena de Reus.
Young shearers and woolhandlers fought for three titles
at the Otago Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in
Balclutha yesterday.
The three winners of yesterday's competition hailed from
outside the region, with Emma-Kate Rabbidge (Wyndham) winning
the New Zealand junior woolhandler title, Kahn Culshaw
(Ashburton) winning junior shearing, and David Gordon
(Masterton) taking intermediate shearing.
The annual event, also dubbed the Otago Shears, is held over
two days and continues today in the Balclutha War Memorial
Hall.
Today, Invercargill shearer Nathan Stratford will be looking
for a major breakthrough for South Island shearing when he
tackles the open competition.
With top New Zealand shearers David Fagan and John
Kirkpatrick hailing from the North Island, no South Island
shearer has won the competition's open title in the past 12
years.
Stratford has missed the final in the last two years, but
reached four of the previous eight showdowns, with best
placings of third in 2004 and 2007.
The event in Balclutha is also the first in an unofficial
''Grand Slam'' dating back to the 1970s, when it was won for
the first time by 1977 world champion Roger Cox.
The Grand Slam also includes, in successive weeks, the
Southern Shears in Gore and, in the North Island, the
Pahiatua Shears and the Golden Shears.
Results -Junior New Zealand woolhander: Emma-Kate Rabbidge
(Wyndham), 117.750 points, 1; Daine Rehe (Christchurch),
131.626, 2; Rhiann Jones (Wales), 135.100, 3; Waimarama
Manukau (Gore), 204.876, 4.
Junior shearing: Kahn Culshaw (Ashburton), 39.033 points, 1;
Corey Smith (Rakaia), 41.971, 2; Rimene Pagan (Alexandra),
42.485, 3; Jan Hartman (Germany), 43.163, 4; Dylan Jones
(Wales), 45.649, 5.
Intermediate shearing: David Gordon (Masterton), 33.099
points, 1; Andrew Leith (Dipton), 39.695, 2; Alex Smith
(Gisborne), 41.375, 3; Ethan Pankhurst (Masterton), 42.742,
4; David Jackson (Sefton), 49.596, 5.
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