Shearing: Three In A Row For Pyper At Duvauchelle

National 2019-2020 No 1-ranked Open shearer and New Zealand transtasman shearing series team member Troy Pyper got his second win of the current season in a close result at the Peninsula Duvauchelle Shears yesterday(Saturday).

From Southland, now based in North Canterbury and just back from shearing in Hawke’s Bay, he won the the title at the Duvauchelle A and P Show for a third time in a row.

But there was just a 0.43 points margin from runner-up Ant Frew, of Pleasant Point, in a 10-sheep Open final decided by the faster time over better quality on the day.

Winner of the resurrected New Zealand Winter Comb title first-up for the new season at Waimate in October, and now with 29 Open-final wins in New Zealand and Australia, Pyper finished in 9min 34.07sec and beat Frew by 28 seconds.

But Frew, with five wins to his name but none since winning on the Methven lambs in March 2019, had the better quality, including just 8 penalty strokes against his name on the shearing board – less than 1 a sheep.

They were each more than 5pts clear of third-placed Lyall Windleburn, of Rangiora, who earlier in the season won the final of a shortened Canterbury Circuit.

Christchurch shearer Isaac Duckmanton won the eight-sheep Senior final by just over a point from James Noah, of Rangiora, Chase Rattray, of Ashburton, broke through for his first Intermediate win after three top-three placings before Christmas and four Junior wins last season, and promising North Canterbury shearer Reuben King had his 3rd Junior win of the season, having already won at A-grade shows Waimate and Canterbury.

Entries were low with just 23 shearers across the four grades, with heavy work commitments likely to have kept some shearers from travelling.

The first shearing sports show of the new year, the Peninsula Duvauchelle Shears started a busy shearing competitions week in the South Island, with the Northern Southland Community Shears’ national longwool shearing and woolhandling championships on Friday at Lowther Downs, near Lumsden, and on Saturday the Southland Shears’ national crossbred lambs shearing and woolhandling championships at the Winton A and P Show and the Golden Bay A and P Show shearing championships in Takaka.

Also in Southland Gore shearer Megan Whitehead will on Thursday attempt to set a new World solo women’s 9hrs lamb shearing record, and there will be three Speedshear events in the region, while in the North Island there will also be A and P show shearing competitions at Kaikohe and Wairoa.

Results of the Peninsula Duvauchelle Shears at the Duvauchelle A and P Show on Saturday, January 9, 2021:

Open final (10 sheep): Troy Pyper (Cheviot) 9min 34.07sec, 33.4pts, 1; Ant Frew (Pleasant Point) 10min 2.63sec, 33.83pts, 2; Lyall Windleburn (Rangiora) 10min 11.43sec, 38.97pts, 3; Shaun Burgess (Rakaia) 10min 15.94sec, 43.1pts2

Senior final (8 sheep): Isaac Duckmanton (Christchurch) 10min 33.53sec, 38.68pts, 1; James Noah (Rangiora) 11min 18.84sec, 39.82pts, 2; Liam Norrie (Cheviot) 11min 19.43sec, 40.47pts, 3; Sam Bryan (Waipara) 11min 2.62sec, 46.26pts, 4.

Intermediate final (4 sheep): Chase Rattray (Ashburton) 6min 36.22sec, 28.06pts, ; Cameron Hassall (Wairoa) 6min 16.24sec, 31.06pts, 2; Brad McNamara (Le Bons Bay) 6min 53.06sec, 31.65pts, 3; Hamish Allen (Hastings) 6min 51.74sec, 32.09pts, 4.

Junior final (3 sheep): Reuben King (North Canterbury) 6min 21.87sec, 26.09pts, 1;Richard Parore (Ashburton) 6min 51.69sec, 32.92pts, 2; Robin Krause (Pleasant Point) 11min 0.87sec, 47.04pts, 3; Hannah Johns (Akaroa) 8min 12.6sec, 74.3pts, 4.

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