A Big Week For Over 100 Woolhandlers

The biggest week in woolhandling kicks into action with the Wairarapa Pre-Shears Championships tomorrow (Wednesday) in a woolshed about 12km north of Masterton.

The championships, at Massey Uiversity’s Riverside Farm, on Mikimiki Rd, just off State Highway 2, and starring at 8.30am, include two North Island Circuit finals, with the competitors in all four grades from Novice to Open springboarding straight into the Golden Shears in Masterton’s War Memorial Stadium on Thursday-Saturday.

For most, the buildup started with the Taumarunui Shears and Apiti Shears last Friday and Sarurday respectively,.peaking with 62 woolhandlers at Apiti, despite the rain.

Events at the Wairarapa Pre-Shears include the North Island Circuit Junior and Senior finals, while the Open final will be decided during the Golden Shears.

More than 100 competitors have entered the 61st Golden Shears, eager for the chance of a “Goldies” ribbon after the cancellation of Masterton’s big event in 2021 and 2022 because of the pandemic restrictions.

The 25 who had by Monday entered the Golden Shears Novice, the first Golden Shears event to be decided since March 2020, include Ila Matheson, from Prince Edward Island, Canada, along with offspring of champion shearers and woolhandlers, and some who will also compete in shearing events at the Golden Shears.

As with the Novice event, the Junior class, which had 21 entries, could provide a first-time winner, but it will be a different story in the Senior class, which had 22 entries, including Taumarunui sisters Te Anna and Vinniye Phillips, the best-performed in the Central North Island but facing strong challenges from the south in such competitors as Autumn Waihape, of Mataura, who won at the Southern Shears in Gore on February 17-18.

The open class has been dominated by Motueka-based Joel Henare, going for a ninth consecutive Golden Shears Open title and a cleansweep of titles in the three weeks up to and including the Shears. Among a field of at least 35, leading the challengers are Keryn Herbert, of Te Awamutu, Monica Potae, from Kennedy Bay, Candy Hiri, of Mataura, and Chelsea Collier, now of Hamilton.

Potae, Hiri and Collier are also leading contennders in the Wools of New Zealand World Championnships Shearing Sports New Zealand team selection series, with the last of eight qualifying rounds being at the Pre-Shears tomorrow (Wednesday), and the series being decided in Masterton.

For those chasing circuit honours, the road to the 2024 titles starts immediately, with the Golden Shears being the first round.

While first Golden Shears in 1961 feature a woolhandling competition primarily for the resident woolhandlers for the otherwise shearing-only competition, there were no Golden Shears woolhandling titles until 1985, when it was introduced in just the Open class.

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