A Thousand Kilometres For A Shearing Win

New Zealand’s top-ranked Open shearer last season has made a successful one-day 1000km round trip from Northland to launch a new campaign at the Taranaki Shears.

Toa Henderson left home in Kaiwaka, near Whangarei, at 5am on Saturday, arrived at the Stratford A and P Show in time for the heats, semi-finals and a 15-sheep final he shore in 11min 18.86sec, and was back home in the north before midnight.

It was hardly the first time he’d put the shoulder to the wheel, having made the same trip to win at Stratford two years ago, and last season he shore 22 finals for 13 wins as far afield as Kaikohe and Gore, including winning both the South Island and North Island Shearer of the Year finals.

With a drive of over five and a half hours ahead of him, and in a good field of 18 entries, Henderson wasn’t about to spend any more time on the board than necessary, and in the four-man final was first to finish, to beat defending champion and three-times winner, Southern Hawke’s Bay farmer and former Taranaki farmer Gavin Mutch by 17 seconds in the race and by 1.051pts in the final result.

Masterton shearer Matene Mason had easily the best quality points, not enough to haul back a six-points time deficit but good enough to claim third place, while fourth was Gore-based Lionel Taumata, who had a good weekend with speedshear wins on Friday night at the Matiere Cosmopolitan Club, near home-town Taumarunui, and on Saturday night at the Toko rugby club, near Stratford.

Among those who missed out on places in the final were Otorohanga shearer Digger Balme, who was next-man-in in aiming for his first final in his 39th year of Open-class shearing, and New Zealand transtasman team member Jack Fagan, who won the New Zealand Corriedale in Christchurch on November 15.

Waikato shearer John Cherrington made it one title in each island this season when he won the senior final, but despite having best time board and pen points in a showdown of eight sheep he was able to claim victory by just 0.835pts from runner-up and Woodville shearer Laura Bradley.

Hawke’s Bay shearer Jess McIntyre claimed a first Intermediate win, by a more comfortable 1.812points from Intermediate-grade stayer Matthew Smith, of Otorohanga, and Oamaru teenager Tye Meikle, who is shearing mainshear in Waikato, won the Junior final, matching Cherrington’s effort of inter-island wins at both the Ellesmere and Stratford A and P shows this season.

The Novice event, on a day which attracted 84 entries across the five grades to the only competition of the season the Taranaki-Whanganui region, was won by Cameron Henson, of Woodville.

Both Henderson and Taumata are planning much less strenuous times next Saturday.

Henderson, who has had 33 wins in Open finals in the seven seasons since returning from West Australia, says he’ll compete at the Whangarei A and P Show just 40 minutes from home, and Taumata will concentrate on just the one target, at the Rotorua A and P Show’s Agrodome Shears shearing and woolhandling championships at Ngongotaha.

They are the last two shows on the Shearing Sports New Zealand calendar pre-Christmas, with the season resuming in the new year at the Peninsula Duvauchelle Shears in Canterbury on January 11

Henderson, Taumata and other Open-class shearers will be setting their sights on a New Zealand team selection series starting at the Southern Shears in Gore in February, to find two machine shearers for the 2026 World championships in Masterton.

RESULTS of the Taranaki Shears at the Stratford A and P Show on Saturday, November 30, 2024:

Open final (15 sheep): Toa Henderson (Kaiwaka) 11m 18.86s, 44.476pts, 1; Gavin Mutch (Scotland/Dannevirke) 11m 35.88s, 45.527pts, 2; Matene Mason (Masterton) 13m 49.08s, 47.454pts, 3; Lionel Taimata (Taumarunui/Gore) 12m 57.91s, 48.362pts, 4.

Senior final (8 sheep): John Cherrington (Ngaruawahia) 8m 35.45s, 31.273prs, 1; Laura Bradley (Woodville) 8m 42.16s, 32.108pts, 2; Jack Hutchinson (England) 8m 41.81s, 34.716pts, 3; Blake Mitchell (Patea) 9m 20.41s, 38.396pts, 4.

Junior final (6 sheep): Jess McIntyre (Hastings) 8m 24.89s, 34.912pts, 1; Matthew Smith (Otorohanga) 8m 57.8s, 36.724pts, 2; Hautapu Mikaere (Te Awamutu) 8m 29.08s, 37.62pts, 3; Paddy Dunne (Ireland) 8m 48.52s, 40.093pts, 4.

Junior final (5 sheep): Tye Meikle (Oamaru) 5m 45.31s, 25.766pts, 1; Jamie Farmer (Wales) 6m 5.02s, 27.751pts, 2; Arvell Rapana (New Plymouth) 6m 51.39s, 29.82pts, 3; Kevin Noone (Ireland) 6m 56.81s, 33.591pts, 4.

Novice (1 sheep): Cameron Henson (Woodville) 3m 29.16s, 23.458pts, 1; Hunter Wigglesworth (Marton) 5m 41.91s, 32.06pts, 2; Joel Dodunski (Midhurst) 2m 29.19s, 42.46pts, 3; Kody Currie (Rakaia) 4m 53.23s, 43.662pts, 4.

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