Anaru Wakefield won the Senior final and donated the prizemoney to suicide prevention causes. Photo / Doug Laing
Porangahau shearer Anaru Wakefield exemplified the spirit of competition shearing and some other sports after winning the Senior shearing title at the Central Hawke's Bay A and P Show's shearing and woolhandling championships in Waipukurau on Saturday.
Wakefield, who runs his own lifestyle block shearing business, put the envelope with the money back in the hand of bemused show president and shearing competition convenor David Poulton, and said he was only interested in "the ribbon", and to donate the prizemoney it to suicide prevention causes.
Shearing Sports New Zealand chairman Sir David Fagan wasn't at the show, but wasn't "completely" surprised, saying that with a fifth of the shows on the national shearing sports calendar cancelled because of the Covid crisis shearers and woolhandlers "just want to get out there and compete and enjoy the time together".
Consequently, there had been encouraging signs in the entry numbers, with 107 having competed across the grades on Saturday - from as far afield as Invercargill and Northland.
Last month the Great Raihania Shears at the Hawkes Bay A and P Show. had a show record of 137 entries.
It was close for Wakefield as he won his final by just 0.75pts from runner-up Masterton shearer Kyle Mita.
It was one of three wins for Hawke's Bay competitors, the other two being a boost for Napier family shearing operation Puna Shearing.
Jasmin Tipoki won the Senior woolhandling final, and Open-class shearer Paraki Puna won the Novice woolhandling, beating 11-year-old brother Waiari, who had been awarded the honours at the prizegiving ceremony only to learn moments later that there had been an error and he was actually runner-up.
His sister, Ataneta, was third in the Open woolhandling final.
Meanwhile, Pongaroa shearer and farmer David Buick again threw-out the challenge to his fellow shearing elite with a crushing win over former World and Golden Shears champions John Kirkpatrick and Gavin Mutch in winning the Open shearing title, with consummate class.
Averaging a tick over 49 seconds a sheep caught, shorn and dispatched in the four-man final of 20 sheep each and finishing in 16min 23sec, Buick beat nearest challenger Kirkpatrick, of Pakipaki, by more than a sheep and a half.
He also had the best points in both board and pen judging to win by the wide margin of 4.3pts, with another 5.2pts to Mutch, the Scottish international formerly based in Taranaki but now managing a farm near Dannevirke.
New Zealand representative Buick's triumph was a near-repeat of his win by 4.4pts at the Hawke's Bay show's Great Raihania Shears in Hastings last month, and even more significant for it made him the first Open shearer to win two finals this season, at the expense of two recent New Zealand title winners.
Kirkpatrick won the New Zealand Spring Shears final at Waimate last month, and Mutch won the New Zealand Corriedale title at the Canterbury Shears on November 6, while fourth finalist Paerata Abraham is a former PGG Wrightson Wool National Circuit winner.
The winning run of Masterton shearer Adam Gordon, victorious at all five previous competitions north-and-south this season, came to an end when he was beaten by his own brother, Joseph, in the Intermediate final, by almost 5pts, while there was success big-time for the lone Taihape competitors on the day, with Josh Devane winning his first Junior titles and Ben Cripps the Novice title.
Golden Shears and former World champion Joel Henare, made it three-from-three in the season's East Coast and Hawke's Bay Open woolhandling finals, and the Junior woolhandling final provided a first win for Rahera Kerr, of Hauturu.
Results from the Central Hawke's Bay A and P Show Shears at Waipukurau on Saturday, November 14, 2020:
Shearing:
Open final (20 sheep): David Buick (Pongaroa) 16min 23sec, 60.05pts, 1; John Kirkpatrick (Pakipaki) 17min 43sec, 64.35pts, 2; Gavin Mutch (Scotland/Dannevirke) 18min 10sec, 69.55pts, 3; Paerata Abraham (Masterton) 18min 30sec, 70.75pts, 4.
Senior final (10 sheep): Anaru Wakefield (Porangahau) 13min 32sec, 48.3pts, 1; Kyle Mita (Masterton) 11min 49sec, 49.05pts, 2; Jayden Mainland (Wellsford) 11min 30sec, 49.6pts, 3; Paul Swann (Wairoa) 11min 59sec, 53.05pts, 4.
Intermediate final (6 sheep): Joseph Gordon (Masterton) 9min 54sec, 42.0333pts, 1; Adam Gordon (Masterton) 10min 28sec, 46.9pts, 2; Matene Munday (Waipukurau) 10min 3sec, 48.9833pts, 3; Luke Daysh (Eketahuna) 10min 39sec, 60.6167pts, 4.
Junior final (3 sheep): Josh Devane (Taihape) 7min 31sec, Michael Buick (Pongaroa) 10min 21sec, 44.3833pts, 2; Lachie Crafar (Halcombe) 9min 14sec, 51.0333pts, 3; Samantha Baxter (Pongaroa) 10min 51sec, 57.55pts, 4.
Novice (1 sheep): Ben Cripps (Taihape) 3min 51sec, 36.55pts, 1; Wirepa Walker (Waipukurau) 4min 23sec, 39.15pts, 2; Shaun Kohinga (Te Kuiti) 3min 27sec, 42.35pts, 3; Sam Mathewson (-) 5min 55sec, 44.75pts, 4.
Woolhandling:
Open final: Joel Henare (Gisborne) 62.2pts, 1; Keryn Herbert (Te Kuiti) 87.4pts, 2; Ataneta Puna (Napier) 102.2pts, 3; Amy Lee Ferguson (Invercargill) 114pts, 4.
Senior final: Jasmin Tipoki (Napier) 83.2pts, 1; Sarah Davis (Rerewhakaaitu) 86pts, 2; Azuredee Paku (Mastterton) 97.8pts, 3; Vinniye Phillips (Taumarunui) 101.2pts, 4.
Junior final: Rahera Kerr (Hauturu) 73.8pts, 1; Te Whetu Brown (Wairoa) 87pts, 2; Shania Hema (Takapau) 89.6pts, 3; Amy Bell (Weber) 92.2pts, 4.
Novice: Paraki Puna (Napier) 91.2pts, 1; Waiari Puna (Napier) 98.6pts, 2; Helen Hughes (Taumarunui) 117pts, 3.