King Country shearer misses record by five

MEDIA RELEASE
 
On behalf of Shearing Sports New Zealand
 

January 19, 5.55pm

King Country shearer misses record by five

King Country shearer Stacey Te Huia has fallen just six sheep short of breaking the World eight-hour ewe-shearing record.

When the final bell came at 5pm, Te Huia had shorn 573, failing in his bid to eclipse the mark of 578 which was set by Far North shearer Matthew Smith in a Hawke's Bay woolshed last Friday.

Needing to average slightly under 145 in each of the four two-hour runs at Motekenui Station, the scene of three other successful bids on other records in the last three years, Te Huia was on target at lunch with runs of 145 and 148, for a half-way total of 293.

But the tide turned in the third run from 12.30pm to 2.30pm  when he counted just 137. Needing 149 in the last two hours to break the record, he was unable to get back on track with just 143.

Te Huia, 29, was aiming to bring the record back into the family, older brother Hayden having held the record with a tally of 495 from 1999 until Southland Jimmy Clark shore 560 in 2008, the record broken by Smith four days ago.

Shearing Sports New Zealand chairman John Fagan, a lambs and ewes record holder of the 1980s, said it was a "massive" effort, and highlighted the extent of Smith's achievement last week, the first ewe-shearing record ever attempted in Hawke's Bay. 

ENDS