All hands on deck to save Te Puke Shears

MEDIA RELEASE

On behalf of Shearing Sports New Zealand

February 8, 2015

All hands on deck to save Te Puke Shears

The young bucks stood-up big-time as the Te Puke A and P Show’s Open shearing competition was threatened with being crapped from the programme because of a lack of entries on Saturday.

Cancelled last year because of heavy rain, the Open was won by 24-year-old Pio Pio shearer Sam Brooks, who, like the others from the lower grades, answered the call to make sure there was still a spectacle for the showgers making a bee-line for the shearing, unaware of how hard the event had been hit by clashes with other events through the vagaries of the calendar and programming of A and P shows throughout the country.

The Te Puke show clashed directly with the North Island Shearing and Woolhandling Championships at Marton and two other competitions throughout the country, and came the day after the historic Aria Sports and the Dannevirke A and P Show on Waitangi Day.

Brooks hadn’t shorn many competitions since a string of good performances in the intermediate grade in 2012-2013.

They included two wins, and a third at Te Puke, where the Open final later that February afternoon was won by Hastings shearer Rowland Smith, now the No 1 shearer in the World.

Earlier yesterday afternoon, Brooks mucked-up his chances of reaching a Senior final for the first time, being one of three who missed qualifying for the four-man final in that grade.

“I thought I would give the Open a go as I will have to move up to the Open next year,” he said, having this season passed a gradings threshold by shearing his first ewes tally of over 400 in a day.

“Te Puke is where I'm originally from and my parents live over there,” he said. “So I like to support the show and was happy to make sure there was an open event running.”

Only two Open-class shearers were at the show, Rowland Smith’s father and regular Te Puke event commentator Alan Smith, from Ruawai, and Scott Gerke, of Papamoa.

They were joined in the Open field by Brooks, four intermediate shearers, and event organiser and competitions judge David Hodge, who made the most of the day by finishing as runner-up, after earlier winning the Senior event, along with dressing-up as “Davina Ross” to complete a full field of four for a new “Ladies” event.

His wife, Carol, also shore in the intermediate heats, as well as judging during the afternoon, in which she said the shearing took place in “beauitiful” fine weather, starkly contrasting with the catastrophic deluge of 12 months earlier.

She said that while the event struggled for competitor numbers, there’s no shortage of support from the area, highlighted by an 11th hour decision to run the women’s event and arrange a sponsor for the prizes.

“And the spectators absolutely love it,” she said.

RESULTS from the Te Puke A and P Show Shears at Te Puke on Saturday, February 7, 2015:

Open final (12 sheep): Sam Brooks (Pio Pio) 13min 39.3sec, 54.548pts, 1; David Hodge (Te Puke) 14min 57.1sec, 57.772pts, 2; Scott Gerke (Papmoa) 13min 53.1sec, 59.488pts, 3; Alan Smith (-) 17min 18.9sec, 71.945pts, 4.

Senior final (8 sheep): David Hodge (Te Puke) 10min 51sec, 46.425pts, 1; Pauline Bolay (Canada) 11min 35.3sec, 47.015pts, 2; Wayne Watchorn (Te Puke) 12min 5.3sec, 57.265pts, 3; Denis Brake (-) 11min 43.6sec, 59.055pts, 4.

Intermediate final (5 sheep): Kaleb Foote (Waikaretu) 8min 14.7sec, 33.735pts, 1; Jared Mackinstosh (Taihape) 7min 26.8sec, 37.34pts, 2; Harris Tohengaroa (Aria) 8min 31.2sec, 38.36pts, 3; Stefan van Oorschott (Tuakau) 8min 16.5sec, 38.625pts, 4.

Junior (3 sheep): Michael Hoare (-) 7min 23.8sec, 28.532pts, 1; Thomas Marshall (-) 8min 8.5sec, 38.758pts, 2; Liam Lowry (-) 8min 12.4sec, 38.953pts, 3; Piripi Tibble (-) 7min 39.7sec, 45.318pts, 4.

Veterans (3 sheep): Peter McCabe (Tauranga) 6min 22.3sec, 23.448pts, 1; Edwin Perry (Masterton) 5min 43.1sec, 23.822pts, 2; Hugh McCarroll (Tauranga) 6min 25.8sec, 25.623pts, 3; Denis Brake (-) 5min 27.4sec, 29.037pts, 4.

Ladies event (2 sheep): Pauline Bolay (Canada) 3min 23.4sec, 13.67pts, 1; Marg Baynes (Wairoa) 3min 42.4sec, 23.12pts, 2; Carol Hodge (Te Puke) 3min 56.2sec, 24.65pts, 3.

ENDS

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