North Otago Shearing Treble At Pleasant Point Shears

Born-again Oamaru competition shearer Justine Meikle scored his third Pleasant Point Gymkhana Open shearing title on Saturday – 19 years after the last.

The winner at Pleasant point back-to-back in 2005 and 2006, Meikle has been back on the trail more than a year now supporting teenaged son and prolific lower grades winner Tye, who won the Intermediate final.

It was a happy trip back to North Otago with passenger Tamati Dennison, of Kurow, also sporting a red ribbon, after winning the Junior final.

The only other grade final was in the Senior grade, won by Dre Roberts, from Mataura.

Justin Meikle led throughout the four-man Open final over 18 sheep each, which he shore in 16m 5.507s, maintaining the quality enough to beat Southland gun Nathan Stratford by 1.68pts.

It was a good warm-up for the New Zealand Corriedales shearing and woolhandling championships at the Royal New Zealand A and P Show in Christchurch on Friday and Saturday, with Stratford a four-times winner of the major title.

On the same weekend a year ago, Justin and Tye Meikle had won an Open and Junior grades double at the Marlborough A and P Show.

In Blenheim on Saturday, the Open Marlborough Open title was won for a fourth time by 2021 corriedales champion Angus Moore, from Ward, shearing the 12 sheep in just under 11 minutes and beating runner-up Duncan Higgins, from Havelock, by 6.79pts.

All four finals were won by comfortable margins, Timo Hicks, of Tapawera, claiming the Senior title by 2.58 points from runner-up Seymour Lambert, of Ward, Isaak Cleland, of Oamaru, winning the Intermediate title by 6.01pts from runner-up Tim McIntyre, of Blenheim, and Charlotte Boyce, of Blenheim, won the Junior final with a margin of 8.45pts from runner-up Ben Rowson-Jones, from England.

There were 39 shearers at Pleasant Point (Open 11, Senior 10, Intermediate 5, Junior 13), and 20 at Blenheim (Open 5, Senior 4, Intermediate 4, Junior 7).

RESULTS from Pleasant Point Gymkhana Shears on Saturday, November 8, 2025:

Open final (18 sheep): Justin Meikle (Oamaru) 16m 5.507s, 53.72pts, 1; Nathan Stratford (Invercargill) 16m 54.616s, 55.4pts, 2; Lionel Taumata (Gore) 16m 45.694s, 58.67pts, 3; Corey Palmer (Dipton) 18m 0.06s, 59.39pts.

Open plate (12 sheep): Ant Frew (Pleasant Point) 12m 35.01s, 41.58pts, 1; Hugh de Lacy (Rangiora) 11m 42.09s, 42.27pts, 2; Corey Smith (Rakaia) 13m 34.2s, 48.71pts, 3; Luis Pincol (Chile) 14m 54.01s, 49.28pts, 4.

Senior final (12 sheep): Dre Roberts (Mataura) 13m 52.79s, 46.22pts, 1; Justin Anderson (-) 14m 15.27s, 49.35pts, 2; Emma Martin (Gore) 14m 52.32s, 50.37pts, 3; Cody Waihape (Gore) 14m 46.41s, 51.65pts, 4.

Intermediate final (5 sheep): Tye Meikle (Oamaru) 7m 2.909s, 24.35pts, 1; Caleb Makuch (Temuka) 6m 29.541s, 27.28pts, 2; Jah Laws (-) 6m 48.911s, 33.45pts, 3; Daniel Vallejo (Argentina/Geraldine) 7m 5.709s, 35.45pts, 4.

Junior final (4 sheep): Tamati Dennison (Kurow) 6m 40.172s, 23.26pts, 1; Chris Ley (-) 6m 27.998s, 28.4pts, 2; Jacob Booth (Waimate) 9m 0.772s, 33.79pts, 3; Jamys Christian (Isle of Man) 7m 44.86s, 35.24pts, 4.

RESULTS from the Marlborough A and P Show Shearing Competition at Blenheim on Saturday, November 8, 2025:

Open final (12 sheep): Angus Moore (Ward) 10m 55.03s, 38.67pts, 1; Duncan Higgins (Blenheim) 11m 59.15s, 45.46pts, 2; Lyall Windleburn (North Canterbury) 12m 37s, 47.27pts, 3; Chris Jones (Blenheim) 14m 45.69s, 55.95pts, 4.

Senior final (7 sheep): Timo Hicks (Tapawera) 9m 57.94s, 45.04pts, 1; Seymour Lambert (Ward) 10m 55.34s, 47.62pts, 2; Tom O’Sullivan (Blenheim) 12m 21.69s, 54.51pts, 3; Hamish Barker (Tapawera) 13m 23.32s, 61.45pts, 4.

Intermediate final (4 sheep): Issak Cleland (Oamaru) 5m 23.66s, 25.68pts, 1; Tim McIntyre (Blenheim) 5m 43.82s, 31.69pts, 2; Merlot Tupara (Blenheim) 6m 18.06s, 38.15pts, 3; Billy Collins (Ward) 6m 16.75s, 42.34pts. 4.

Junior final (3 sheep): Charlotte Boyce (Blenheim) 4m 46.22s, 36.64pts, 1; Ben Rowson-Jones (Derbyshire, England) 6m 35.09s, 45.09pts, 2; Matthew Cuttance (Feilding) 7m 40.59s, 60.36pts, 3; Matthew Weaver (Christchurch) 8m 16.75s, 71.84pts, 4.

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