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On behalf of Shearing Sports New Zealand

World shearing record bid in Hawke's Bay next week

The first World shearing record of the season is set to take place next week when former three-stand record holder Steve Stoney tackles the nine-hour lambs record of 866 held by fellow Hawke's Bay gun Dion King..

Stoney, 41, is scheduled to make the attempt on November 26 at Kahuranaki Station, east of Hastings, where he set his sights on shearing's ultimate record-book target with a blow-out of 850 in an uncontrolled day working for Napier contractor Farrell Chrystal 12 months ago.

The World Shearing Records Society has appointed four judges to oversee the event, expected to start at 5am and end at 5pm, with four breaks totalling three hours, the standard nine-hour shearing-day breaks for breakfast, lunch, and morning and afternoon smoko.

The judges include society chairman Mark Baldwin, from Australia, and Shearing Sports New Zealand chairman and 1980s record-holder John Fagan, of Waihi, along with a mandatory judge from each of the North and South islands, Doug Oliver, of Te Kuiti, and Colin Gibson, of Oamaru.

Stoney has been in the record books before, for nine years after he and two others set a three-stand, eight-hour lambs record in 1997. In 2002 he was was also right-hand man in King's first entry into the record books, an eight-hour record at Mangatutu, west of Napier.

King failed in a first attempt on the nine-hour record in Hawke's Bay in November 2006, but less than two months later claimed the record at Mangapehi, in the King Country, breaking the previous record of 851.

Records society secretary Hugh McCarroll, of Tauranga, said today no other applications have yet been received for record bids during the summer, but at least two more are expected. World champion Cam Ferguson, of Waipawa, is planning an attack on the eight-hour lambs record of 736 set by South Island based Irishman Ivan Scott near Rotorua two years ago, while Far North brothers Rowland and Doug Smith are planning a two-stand record in Hawke's Bay, both expected to be in January.

Ferguson's bid will take place at Mangapehi, and the Smith brothers are planning to make their bid in the same Waitara Station woolshed near Te Pohue where brother Matthew set a World eight-hour ewes record last January.

Record bids don't come cheaply, with a starting cost of $US1800 for a single-stand attempt required by the society to help cover costs, but shearers face other costs including transport, accommodation, and meals for usually substantial teams of helpers.

ENDS

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