Gisborne Open shearing winner Jack Fagan (left), Master Woolhandler Ailsa Fleming, Master Shearer Sir David Fagan, and Open woolhandling winner, Master Woolhandler Joel Henare. Photo / Shearing Sports NZ
Some microphone reshuffling was needed at the Gisborne Shearing and Woolhandling Championships on Saturday, as the voices behind the commentary were also the ones competing in the major events on the board and tables.
Te Kuiti shearer Jack Fagan and Paerata Abraham, of Masterton, were first and second in the open shearing final, and hometown favourite Joel Henare, who lives in Motueka, and Monica Potae, of Kennedy Bay, Coromandel, were first and second in the open woolhandling final.
All are regular arena commentators.
Having commentated throughout the day, except for his own event and the occasional break, Henare switched from the T-shirt and shorts of battle to a suit and tie to conduct the prizegiving ceremony for the championships, releasing the mic only when the recipient was himself.
Fagan’s performance in Gisborne was one of the best in a career in which he had his first open victory in England in 2015 and won the Royal Welsh Open soon afterwards.
Last season, he won his second New Zealand Corriedales Championship in Christchurch, and also, for the first time, the North Island Shearer of the Year final.
Fagan shore the 20 woolly hoggets in 15min 45.43sec, beating Abraham off the board by more than 26 seconds, and a comfortable 2.279pts in the final count.
Local shearer Kingston Kuru won the speed shear at Te Karaka on Saturday night, completing a senior double after a speed shear win at the show on Friday and fifth place in the show’s senior championship final on Saturday.
For Henare, it was a third win in four outings in the first 15 days of the new season, taking his record individual tally to 146 open-class wins.
It was an emotional one, marked by the first presentation of a new Open-grade taonga, The Master Sweep, recognising the area’s first Master woolhandlers, Ailsa Fleming and Oti Mason.
He also managed a win in Friday’s Speed Shear quick throw.
Fagan will next compete at the Hawke’s Bay A and P Show’s Great Raihania Shears on Friday, but Henare will be with the New Zealand team at the transtasman tests at Jamestown, South Australia.
Taelor Tarrant, of Taumarunui, won Saturday’s senior shearing final, his fourth final in four competitions this season, including winning the New Zealand Spring Shears Winter Comb title at Waimate.
He sheared the 10 sheep in 10m 5.27s, beating next-man-off Kuru by about 45 seconds, and the remaining three by more than a sheep.
In the final count, he beat runner-up and first-season Senior Kaivah Cooper, of Napier, by 2.2645pts.
Local Jodiesha Kirkpatrick won the intermediate final, Waiari Puna, of Napier, won the junior final, and Matawai farmer Jo McIntyre won the novice event.
In 2019, McIntyre (as Jo Waugh) became the first woman to win a New Zealand or Island sheep dog trials championship title, and has now won South Island titles in both the zig-zag and straight hunts.
Tre Ratana Sciascia, from Taihape, had a second senior woolhandling win this season, having won at Waimate in the South Island a week earlier.
The junior final provided a first win for Leah Tamainu, of Nuhaka, and Reipuia Moke, of Gisborne, won the novice woolhandling.
The championships had 122 entries across five grades of shearing and four of woolhandling at the 150th anniversary Poverty Bay A and P Show.
It was the first North Island show on the 2025-2026 Shearing Sports New Zealand calendar, following two events in the South Island.
Meanwhile, the third competition of the season in the South Island was the Ellesmere A and P Show’s shearing championships at Leeston.
Here, the feature was the double wins scored by father and son Justin and Tye Meikle in the open and intermediate finals respectively, on the back of a similar double at the show last year, when they won the open and junior finals respectively.
The entries comprised 73 shearers (Open 20, Senior 13, Intermediate 8, Junior 12, Novice 20), and 49 woolhandlers (Open 19, Senior 11, Junior 12, Novice 7).
150th Poverty Bay A and P Show
Saturday, October 18, 2025
Shearing:
Open final (20 sheep): Jack Fagan (Te Kuiti) 15m 45.43s, 55.6715pts, 1; Paerata Abraham (Masterton) 16m 12.01s, 57.9505pts, 2; John Kirkpatrick (Pakipaki) 17m 11.16s, 58.78pts, 3; Tama Niania (Gisborne) 17m 25.17s, 60.6585pts, 4; Hemi Braddick (Eketahuna) 18m 46.26s, 63.813pts, 5.
Senior final (10 sheep): Taelor Tarrant (Taumarunui) 10m 5.27s, 42.9635pts, 1; Kaivah Cooper (Napier) 11m 12.56s, 45.228pts, 2; Jesse McIntyre (Hastings) 11m 57.13s, 47.1565pts, 3; Ryka Swann (Wairoa) 11m 35.72s, 50.586pts, 4; Kingston Kuru (Gisborne) 10m 50.34s, 52.217pts, 5.
Intermediate final (5 sheep): Jodiesha Kirkpatrick (Gisborne) 6m 48.75s, 24.8375pts, 1; Michael Buick (Pongaroa) 6m 49.72s, 28.886pts, 2; Riley Norman (-) 7m 42.21s, 30.1105pts, 3; Lydia Thomson (Oxford/Hastings) 8m 41.05s, 31.0525pts, 4; Sean Story (Gisborne) 7m 23.47s, 53.5735pts, 5.
Junior final (3): Waiari Puna (Napier) 7m 10.75s, 36.2042pts, 1; Ashlin Swann (Wairoa) 7m 59.22s, 37.2943pts, 2; Tom Kerley (Wairoa) 8m 16.12s, 37.806pts, 3; Camden Bolton (Feilding) 8m 48.66s, 38.0997pts, 4; Jack Campbell 8m 23.12s, 44.8227pts, 5.
Novice (1 sheep): Jo McIntyre (Matawai) 4m 14.94s, 25.747pts, 1; Paris Mariki-Harrison (Gisborne) 3m 45.37s, 27.2685pts, 2; Sam Lawson Ongaonga) 3m 56.52s, 28.826pts, 3; Wilbur Kittow (Central Hawke’s Bay) 5m 6.66s, 31.333pts, 4; Hannah Hutchinson (Whatatutu) 6m 43.22s, 38.161pts, 5.
Open Speed Shear: Tiare Tipu (Flaxmere) 1, Forde Alexander (Taumarunui) 2, David Buick (Pongaroa) 3.
Senior Speed Shear: Kingston Kuru (Gisborne) 1, Taelor Tarrant (Taumarunui) 2, Tu Puhia (Gisborne) 3.
Woolhandling
Open final: Joel Henare (Gisborne/Motueka) 82.908pts, 1; Monica Potae (Kennedy Bay) 133.05pts, 2; Cushla Abraham (Masterton) 141.15pts, 3; Jasmine Tipoki (Napier) 158.67pts, 4.
Senior final: Tre Ratana Sciascia (Taihape) 83.25pts, 1; Tramon Campbell (Gisborne) 105.2pts, 2; Chloe Henderson (Feilding) 133.81pts, 3; Jamie Penfold (Gisborne) 135.07pts, 4.
Junior final: Leah Tamainu (Nuhaka) 123.69pts, 1; Opal Ramsay-Houpapa (Pongaroa) 139.954pts, 2; Sathara Fleming (Te Karaka) 143.12pts, 3; Miracle Waikato (Hastings) 152.31pts, 4.
Novice: Reipuia Moke (Gisborne) 71.57pts, 1; Paris Maraki-Harrison (Gisborne) 75.94s, 2; Shiannah Kopua (Gisborne) 79.17pts, 3; Kobie Foster (Pongaroa) 98.62pts, 4.
Open Speed Shear: Tiare Tipu (Flaxmere) 1, Forde Alexander (Taumarunui) 2, David Buick (Pongaroa) 3.
Senior Speed Shear: Kingston Kuru (Gisborne) 1, Taelor Tarrant (Taumarunui) 2, Tu Puhia (Gisborne) 3.
Intermediate Clean Shear: Jodiesha Kirkpatrick (Gisborne) 1, Michael Buick (Pongaroa) 2, Roy Pomare (Gisborne) 3.
Quick Throw: Joel Henare (Gisborne/Motueka) 1, Jamie Penfold (Gisborne) 2, Tu Puhia (Gisborne) 3.