Taking The Train To The Shearing Competition

Suburban traingoers may well wonder what is in the bag of the bearded fellow passenger on occasional trips between Hutt Valley and Wellington.

They’d be right if they guessed it was a pair of blade shears used by the stranger, a World champion shearer heading to his next competition – Allan Oldfield, now of Hutt Valley suburb Waiwhetu but originally from Geraldine in the South Island, where he learned to shear with father, and fellow competitor, Phil Oldfield.

At the weekend it was possibly the easier part, for on the flip-side, with expense always a consideration and rugby fans having booked-out all but the highest-priced airfares to Christchurch, the 31-year-old’s trip to the Northern A and P Show at Rangiora in North Canterbury was via Timaru in South Canterbury.

As it happened the flights were $100 cheaper each way than flying through Christchurch, but to say it was worth it defies some logic, for the airfares still cost him about $420, when the prize at the end was just $250.

Where it was worth it was that his win in the Open Blades final at Rangiora gave him maximum points in the second round of the eight-round Wools of New Zealand World Championships New Zealand Selection Series.

To get to Scotland in June to defend the title he won in France in 2019, he needs to be first or second in the series when it ends at Easter, and he couldn’t afford to drop an event in the early stages.

Oldfield and 2019 World teams champion partner Tony Dobbs, from Fairlie, winner of the first round in Waimate and runner-up on Saturday, were to have missed the event while on national transtasman test match duty in Australia.

It was only when that match was postponed, because facilities were needed as a flooding evacuation centre,

that they made the decision to compete at Rangiora, and he’ll do it again on Saturday for the third round at Ashburton, followed by the Golden Blades in Christchurch in the garden city’s Cup and Show week, each pre-booked well in advance to keep down the costs.

But he says it won’t be until the fifth round at Reefton in February that series will start to sort itself out, and only then that he could think about picking and choosing which of the rounds he may still do, in a series based entirely in the South Island.

With sheep numbers in continual decline, and little commercial work around at present for the blades shearers, Oldfield keeps the bank-account ticking-over with some machine shearing in Wairarapa and keeping the blades going doing small numbers on lifestyle blocks, such things as a mixed mob near Geraldine during the weekend trip south, including a Drysdale ram, a Valais blacknose cross wether and a black Coopworth wether.

On Saturday there was just 0.31pts between Oldfield and Dobbs in a four-man final of four sheep each, which Oldfield shore in a tick over 11 minutes.

Third were former New Zealand team members Allen Gemmell, of Loburn, and Oldfield’s father, Phil,was fourth.

In the machine shearing Pleasant Point shearer Ant Frew’s three-years wait for another win was rewarded with an Open final victory by 0.79pts over Rangiora shearer Hugh De Lacy, who had won at Ellesmere’s Selwyn Spring Show seven days earlier.

De Lacy was first off in the four-man final, shearing 13min 10.3sec for the 12 sheep. But, finishing next in 13min 42.59sec Frew had comfortably the tidier pen of sheep afterwards and carried the day with the better quality points.

Frew had shorn about 10 finals since his last win, on lambs at Methven in March 2019, and on Saturday he became the seventh different winner in seven Open finals throughout the country in the first three weeks of this season, with none having yet claimed more than a single win.

First season Open shearer Taare Edwards, of Ashburton, won the Open Plate, Liam Norrie, of Cheviot, the Senior final, Emily Pike, from Australia, claimed Intermediate honours as the only shearer in the grade, and Lydia Thomson, of Rangiora, claimed her first Junior title, shearing in her sixth final.

New competition organiser Mark Herlihy was pleased with the day, with 36 shearers competing, including 15 in the Open grade.

Results from the Northern A and P Shears at Rangiora on Saturday, October 22, 2022:

Open final (12 sheep): Ant Frew (Pleasant Point) 13min 42.59sec, 48.71pts, 1; Hugh De Lacy (Rangiora) 13min 10.03sec, 49.5pts, 2; Toko Hapuku (Methven) 13min 51.91sec, 51.1pts, 3; Lyall Windleburn (Rangiora) 14min 7.66sec, 56.63pts, 4.

Open Plate (7 sheep): Taare Edwards (Ashburton) 9min 8.16sec, 37.27pts, 1; Tamihana Karauria (Alexandra) 8min 59.37sec, 41.68pts, 2; Jordan Boyes (Owaka) 7min 59.88sec, 41.71pts, 3; Duncan Higgins (Blenheim) 9min 47.35sec, 41.94pts, 4.

Senior final (7 sheep): Liam Norrie (Cheviot) 10min 46.62pts, 1; 37.9pts, 1; Mitchell Menzies (Ranfurly) 10min 10.88sec, 39.26pts, 2; Blake Crooks (Timaru) 11min 24.09sec, 44.35pts, 3; Cody Davidson (Hakatere) 11min 12.6sec, 46.2pts, 4.

Intermediate final (5 sheep): Emily Pike (Australia) 10min 47.66pts, 1; 59.38pts, 1.

Junior final (3 sheep): Lydia Thomson (Rangiora) 9min 34.53sec, 37.73pts, 1; Robyn Krause (Germany) 9min 38.06sec, 40.24pts, 2; Levi Beedles (Rangiora) 10min 48.66sec, 53.1pts, 3.

Blades (4 sheep): Allan Oldfield (Geraldine/Hutt Valley) 11min 0.81sec, 42.04pts, 1; Tony Dobbs (Fairlie) 11min 51.91sec, 42.35pts, 2; Allen Gemmell (Loburn) 11min 33.91sec, 44.7pts, 3; Phil Oldfield (Geraldine) 12min 51.19sec, 47.56pts, 4.

© Scoop Media