Bay's King stands and delivers world record

DOUG LAING
Tammy King was happy to watch yesterday as husband Dion did the almost-impossible - shear 866 lambs in nine hours, a world record.
The triumph at Mangapehi, King Country, saw Dion King (pictured), from Napier, hammer the previous record of 851 set by Justin Bell in December 2004.
There was help everywhere, at least six record holders from over the years involved in the preparation, 25 shearers turning up to crutch the record-bid flock, and even Bell on hand yesterday to urge King to the new mark. Bell travelled from Weber in Southern Hawke's Bay in expectation of seeing his record tumble.
"He had put himself out there," Tammy said of King. "He didn't have to prove anything else, and I said, 'Why don't you just leave it?"'
It was a relaxed King who began at 5am, rain pouring outside, as it had all night. Needing an average of over 23.7 lambs per quarter-hour, King was always ahead.
His 196 in the two-hour opening run to breakfast was three more than Bell's, and with 170, 168 and 168 over the next three runs of 1hr 45mins each, the required lamb-rate per quarter in the run-home was under 22.
He took it comfortably for a last run of 164, but turned it on for 28 in the last quarter - 14 in the last eight minutes - after Dannevirke shearing personality Koro Mullins announced a world record had been set at 4.52pm.
For King, 31, it was a massive relief after a big year. He had won the Golden Shears open, the PGG Wrightson National Series, and the North Island Shearer of the Year, was voted by his peers as NZ Shearer of the Year, represented New Zealand overseas and won at the Calgary Stampede. He became Ngati Kahungunu Sportsperson of the Year, and only last week set a world speedshear record with a lamb in 14.06 seconds.