Kiwi reign in Wales shears finale

Kiwi reign in Wales shears finale

Elders Primary Wool UK Tour

An 11-year New Zealand domination of one of the UK’s top shearing events ended today with the first-ever Welsh win in the Corwen Shears in Wales.

The 25th anniversary title was won by Machynlleth farmer Gareth Daniel.
The sole New Zealand finalist in an otherwise all-Wales final was third placegetter David Fagan, of Te Kuiti, who won the... first Corwen open in 1989 and his 15th last year.

Daniel added to the moment when he and runner-up and Corwen shearer Richard Jones sent Fagan and Napier shearer John Kirkpatrick packing at the end of their Elders Primary Wool UK Tour by winning it’s last test by 4.65pts to tie the Wales-NZ series 2-all.

Time honours in the 20-lambs open final were claimed by Gareth Evans, who finished in 11min 54sec, which compared with the event record of 10min 36sec shorn by Fagan in 2004, an unofficial World record for 20 lambs in competition.
Today’s was, however, a particularly close shear, with just 21 seconds separating the first five off the board, and just 1.2pts covering the first four in the final result.

The race-winning Evans had to settle for fourth place overall.

Fagan was first to finish the test match, in 12min 53sec, but Daniel's superior quality on the day gave him individual honours by just 0.05pts.

Shearing despite a shoulder injury which forced his last-minute withdrawal from the third test midweek at the Royal Welsh Show, Kirkpatrick was last-off in 14min 22sec and struggled to maintain the quality which helped him win five individual finals during the tour, and the Irish All-Nations in May..

Fagan and Kirkpatrick finished with a 4-3 record in all tests on tour, having rebounded from an opening loss to Scotland by beating England and Ulster before the tied annual series against Wales.
Meanwhile, the Open woolhandling final at Corwen was won by Scotland’s Leanne Bertram.

Results:

Elders Primary Wool UK Tour NZ v Wales, fourth test (20 lambs): Wales 107.2pts (Gareth Daniel 13min 2sec, 50.7pts; Richard Jones 13min 46sec, 51.75pts) beat New Zealand 103.55pts (David Fagan 12min 53sec, 50.75pts; John Kirkpatrick 14min 22sec, 56.45pts). The series was tied 2-2.

Corwen Shears Open final (20 lambs): Gareth Daniel (Wales) 12min 1sec, 46.65pts, 1; Richard Jones (Wales) 12min 31sec. 47.2pts, 2; David Fagan (NZ) 12min 9sec, 47.7pts, 3; Gareth Evans (Wales) 11min 54sec, 47.85pts, 4; Ian Jones (Wales) 11min 56sec, 49.4pts, 5; Gwion Evans (Wales) 12min 15sec, 50.2pts, 6.

ENDS

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