There's Still Plenty Of Shearing To Come - Let's Go!

The Rangiora Shears are off despite attempts to avoid cancellation for a second year in a row.

But while it becomes the seventh competition to be cancelled pre-Christmas, nine others are still going ahead.

Among the current survivors are just two in the North Island, one of them being the Whangarei A and P Show which last year held a shearing competition for the first time, with an especially-built stand worth at least $40,000.

The outcome in Rangiora was confirmed today by convener Noel Handley who said the cancellation was due to sheep transportation issues.

The organisers had been trying to resolve the issues since the Northern A and P Association announced a fortnight ago that the Rangiora Show, which was to have been held on October 22-23, was cancelled.

An association statement at the time said the Rangiora Show – one of the oldest in New Zealand and having celebrated 150 years in 2016 – had been cancelled due to uncertainty with Covid levels.

“Our Committee felt the financial risk to the Association was too great,” that statement said. “The decision was especially hard given it's the second year this has happened.”

Rangiora becomes the seventh competition to be cancelled in the new Shearing Sports New Zealand of 59 competitions which were scheduled for the summer at A and P Shows, country sports days as stand-alone events such as the New Zealand Merino Shears which opened the season in Alexandra last week.

The Waimate Shears, also a stand-alone event, starts tomorrow, with woolhandling and the New Zealand Winter Comb shearing championships, and ends with the crossbred shearing on Saturday.

All of those cancelled have been A and P show events, five of them having had both shearing and woolhandling competition.

Organisers of competitions which are still happening, most determined to go ahead even as competitor-only events if required by the Covid limits, are urging competitors to enter as soon as possible. Alert levels could limit numbers, sheep numbers are an issue for several, and later entries could miss out.

The calendar for events still going ahead pre-Christmas is:

October 8-9: Waimate Shears (New Zealand Spring shearing and woolhandling championships), at Waimate.

October 30: Ashburton A and P Show (shearing only), at Ashburton.

November 6: Marlborough A and P Show (shearing only), at Blenheim; Gymkhana Shears (shearing only), at Pleasant Point.

November 11 12: Canterbury Shears (New Zealand Corriedale Shearing and Woolhandling Championships), at Christchurch.

November 20: Nelson A and P Show (shearing only), at Richmond Park, Nelson; West Otago A and P Show (shearing only), at Tapanui.

November 27: Stratford A and P Show Taranaki Shears (shearing only), at Stratford.

December 4: Whangarei A and P Show, Barge Showgrounds, Whangarei.

Cancelled are: Poverty Bay, Hawke’s Bay, Wairarapa, Manawatu, Central Hawke’s Bay, Rangiora and Ellesmere.

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