Shearing Record Broken

Shearing Record Broken

A World shearing record which went unchallenged for 16 years has been broken in front of a frenzied crowd of over 150 packed into a King Country woolshed.

Stecey Te Huia, of Te Kuiti, and Sam Welch, of Waikaretu, shore a combined tally of 1341 ewes in nine hours to beat by six the previous record of 1335 set by Southlanders Darin Forde and Wayne Ingram in 1996.

Judges praised the quality of the shearing of the two men at Ter Hape, east of Benneydale, and only two sheep were rejected, both from the pen of Te Huia in the opening two-hour run from 5am to breakfast.

When the last sheep slid down the porthole just after 5pm, Te Huia was credited with 674 for the day, while Welch shore 667.

Shearing Sports New Zealand chairman and 1980s records breaker John Fagan said it was a stunning, day, turning around from a difficult first two hours in which the pair were 14 off the pace set by the Southland pair.\

Te Huia was at his fastest near the end, occasionally fleecing ewes in as little as 30 seconds each in the last hour.

ENDS

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