On behalf of Shearing Sports New Zealand

December 22, 12.15pm

Shearer ahead of pace in record bid

Te Kuiti shearer Stacey Te Huia is eyeing the possibility of a new World eight-hour ewe-shearing record of around 600 after getting to the halfway stage with 298 shorn.

Watched by record-holder Matthew Smith, who shore 578 in Hawke's Bay last summer, Te Huia, 30, shore 146 in the first two hours from 7am-9am, and put in a run record of 152 in the next two hours to the lunchbreak at 11.30am, with half-hour splits of 37, 37, 39 and 39.

The judges, including Australian Ralph Blue, were impressed with the standard of the shearing in the Moketenui woolshed between Te Kuiti and Benneydale. By lunch there had been no rejects and Te Huia was maintaining a quality standard comfortably within the 12pt mark set by the World Sheep Shearing Records Society.

With rain continuing outside, Te Huia, who suffered a minor cut to his left forearm soon after morning smoko, faces two more two-hour runs on the ewes which average about 55kg each, and are likely to produce about 10 bales of wool during the day. The third run is from 12.30pm to 2.30pm, and the last from 3pm to 5pm.

ENDS

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