It was close, but Potae scores at Royal Show
It was close, but Potae scores at Royal Show
A year ago Milton woolhandler Monica Potae competed at the Great Raihania Shears in Hastings with a leg in plaster in a last-ditch effort to win a place in New Zealand’s World Championships selection series finals.
She missed out, but there was some reward when she returned to the shears at the Royal New Zealand Show on Friday to win the Open final, against a field of stars missing only defending champion Joel Henare.
Coming six days after she was runner-up to World teams champion Maryanne Baty at the Poverty Bay Show, it was close call in Hastings, with Potae beating runner-up Pagan Rimene, from Alexandra, by just 0.4pts, one of the closest woolhandling finals in Shearing Sports New Zealand records. Third was former World and multiple New Zealand champion Sheree Alabaster, of Taihape, and fourth was Baty, who whose first Open win was in the Great Raihania Shears in 2015.
The Open attracted a field of 14, including No 1-ranked 2016-2017 senior and 2017 Golden Shears Senior champion Jamie McLean, of Taihape, and Gisborne’s Brittany Tibble, who won the New Zealand Championships Senior final in Te Kuiti in April.
The Rowland Smith juggernaut
rolled-on in the Open shearing when he won the Great
Raihania Shears title for a third time in a row, and
extended his winning sequence in New Zealand competitions to
21 since the Rotorua A and P Show in January, the only time
he’s been beaten in 26 finals in New Zealand this
year.
In a field of 20, World champion John Kirkpatrick
was a surprise elimination in the heats, missing the cut for
the eight-man semi-finals by one-tenth of a point.
But it was still an all-Hawke’s Bay 1,2,3 at the end of a four-man final, back in the shearing pavilion after being held in 2015 and 2016 on a six-stand board in the adjacent sheep yards.
Smith won with a buffer of 3.8pts despite a bold bid by Dion King who had to settle for second place after shearing his 20 in 17min 5sec, beating Smith off the board by 11 seconds.
Peter Chilcott, based in Napier, was third, and Murray Henderson, of Halcomb, fourth.
Linton
Palmer pulled one back for the Southland outpost of Dipton
after the previous day’s Prime Ministerial departure of
most-famed Dipton farmer Bill English, when he won the
Senior final during a short holiday-weekend trip to
Hawke’s Bay to visit his partner’s
family.
Woodville’s Tegwyn Bradley shore the 12-sheep
final in 16min 48 seconds, but despite a 50-second and
two-and-a-half points time deficit Palmer turned the tables
on quality by more than five points to claim the win by
3.84pts.
The Intermediate shearing final was won by
Daniel Seed, of Woodville, and Paora Moanaroa, of Eketahuna,
won the Junior final.
Staunch shows supporter Ash Boyce
was rewarded for perseverance when he won the Senior
woolhandling final, his first victory in 16 Junior and
Senior finals over the last four years, which included two
at the Golden Shears and two at the New Zealand
championships.
The Junior woolhandling final was won by
Teresa Lambert, of Napier.
Entry numbers were not great,
a total of 36 in the shearing grades, and 33 in the
woolhandling.
Results from the Great Raihania Shears at
the Royal New Zealand and Hawke’s Bay Show in Hastings on
Friday, October 20, 2017:
Shearing:
Open final (20
sheep): Rowland Smith (Maraekakaho) 17min 16sec, 59.45pts,
1; Dion King (Flaxmere) 17min 5sec, 63.25pts, 2; Peter
Chilcott (Napier) 19min 4sec, 67.4pts, 3; Murray Henderson
(Halcomb) 19min 36sec, 72.4pts, 4.
Senior final (12
sheep): Linton Palmer (Dipton) 17min 38sec, 61.233pts, 1;
Tegwyn Bradley (Woodville) 16min 48sec, 64.067pts, 2; Tomas
Lima (Levin) 17min 31sec, 66.883pts, 3; Paul Swann (Wairoa)
17min 58sec, 67.983pts, 4.
Intermediate final (5 sheep):
Daniel Seed (Woodville) 8min 36sec, 36.6pts, 1; Caleb Cheer
(Waipukurau) 7min 48sec, 48.6pts, 2; Tarn Hollis (-) 8min
44sec, 55.4pts, 3; Carmen Smith (Pongaroa) 10min 121ec,
56.35pts, 4.
Junior final (3 sheep): Paora Moanaraoa
(Eketahuna) 5min 28sec, 33.067pts, 1; Brook Hamerton
(Hastings) 6min 53sec, 38.317pts, 2; Keith Swann (Wairoa)
6min 52sec, 40.6pts, 3; Atawhai Hadfield (Wairoa) 8min
36sec, 45.8pts, 4.
Woolhandling:
Open final: Monica
Potae (Milton) 140pts, 1; Pagan Rimene (Alexandra) 140.4pts,
2; Sheree Alabaster (Taihape) 151.6pts, 3; Maryanne Baty
(Gisborne) 152.8pts, 4.
Senior final: Ash Boyce
(Dannevirke) 98.8pts, 1; Angela Stevens (Napier) 104pts, 2;
Peketai Puna (Napier) 107.4pts, 3; Chiquita Tamepo
(Tikitiki) 135.8pts, 4.
Junior final: Teresa Lambert
(Napier) 119pts, 1; Tyler Hira (Onewhero) 126.8pts, 2;
Summer Pritchard (Pongaroa) 143.6pts, 3; Cortez Ostler
(Dannevirke) 178.6pts,
4.
ENDS