Three World shearing records will be attempted within eight days in the Central North Island next month.
The attempts have been confirmed with the World Sheep Shearing Records Society, secretary Hugh McCarroll MNZM announced
at the weekend.
The first will be at Te Hape B, east of State Highway 30 King Country township Benneydale, on January 10 when Cole
L’Huillier, of Te Akau, and Kelvin Walker, of Pio Pio will tackle the two-stand eight-hours strongwool ewes record of
1066 which was set in January 2011 by brothers and Hawke’s Bay-based Rowland and Doug Smith, from Northland.
The following day at Moketenui, Mangapehi, west of Benneydale, two Welsh shearers will be among a trio challenging the
three-stand eight hours lambs record of 1784 held by King Country shearers Digger Balme, Roger Neil and Dean Ball for 18
years. Matthew Evans will arrive from South Wales on Tuesday, to begin preparing with Te Kuiti-based Delwyn Jones, who
has lived in New Zealand about 10 years, and the third shearer, Ryan Miller, from Gore and recently returned from
Australia.
The third record attempt will be on January 17 at Waitara Station, north of Napier-Taupo locality Te Pohue, where Eru
Weeds, from Ohai, in Southland, James Mack, from Weber, Southern Hawke’s Bay, and Luke Mullins, of Taihape, will attempt
the three-stand eight hours ewes record of 1347 set by Hawke’s Bay shearers Shelford Wilcox, Kaylin Chrystal and Errol
Chrystal on December 22 last year.
Of those challenging the records, L’Huillier has been previously in the records books as one of five who set a
since-broken five-stand lambshearing record near Kawakawa Bay, east of Clevedon, in December 2013, and Weeds and Mack
are current holders of a four-stand lambs record set in Southland in 2012.
The last World shearing record attempts were the historic raid on the glamour marks in the UK in July, when the Smiths’
brother, Matthew Smith, shore a nine solo nine-hour record of 731 ewes and Irish shearer beat the solo nine-hours lambs
record with a new tally of 867.
ENDS