Shearing Record Drama Unfolding In Stormy Central North Island

A teenager’s bid for a World shearing record today has come down to not only a battle of stamina but also the weather outside the woolshed in a remote pocket of the central North Island.

The solo eight-hour strongwool lambs record bid at Te Pa Station, south of Raetihi and Ohakune, started at 7am, with 19-year-old Reuben Alabaster soon onto the target pace, but with much of the central North Island under a MetService severe thunderstorm watch for the afternoon, with late-morning temperatures at Ohakune down to 14deg, and rain falling and expected to increase in the afternoon.

But the lambs, with about 800 under cover overnight, remained dry, and needing to hit 373 by the half-way stage at the start of the one-hour lunch-break at 11.30am to be on target to break the record, Alabaster got a good start with 188 from the get-go at 7am to the morning tea break at 9am.

But he was marginally off the pace in the second run, with 183 for the run and 371 on the board for the day.

When Irish shearer Ivan Scott set the record of 744 almost 11 years ago at Opepe, near Taupo, he shore runs of 187 and 199 for a total of 376 at lunch.

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