Gisborne Shearing and Woolhandling Championships results

Shearer John Kirkpatrick seen here winning the world title in Invercargill in 2017. Photo / Pete Nikolaison

Former world champions John Kirkpatrick and Joel Henare returned to home territory to win the Gisborne Shearing and Woolhandling Championships’ open finals at Poverty Bay on Saturday.

Hawke’s Bay-based 2017 World Shearing Champion Kirkpatrick won by 0.7834pts from 2023 New Zealand Shears open champion David Buick, of Pongaroa, in a five-man open shearing final of 15 sheep.

It was Kirkpatrick’s 21st Gisborne open final, dating back to his debut in 1995 and his first at the North Island’s opening show of the Shearing Sports New Zealand season since 2019.

Having undergone significant shoulder surgery last summer, but back shearing by the end of the season, Kirkpatrick was claiming his first win since being made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) in the 2022 Queen’s Birthday and Platinum Jubilee Honours.

Henare, World Woolhandling Champion in 2012 and 2017, won the Gisborne Open woolhandling final for the third year in a row and a ninth time since 2012.

Henare recently confirmed he’s in the race for New Zealand selection for the 2026 Golden Shears Championships in Masterton.

The runner-up was Monica Potae, from Kennedy Bay.

Kirkpatrick has won 213 individual titles, including 168 in New Zealand, while Henare’s win was the 139th open-final win of his career.

The shearing across the grades was a clean-up for the Kirkpatrick shearing gang and whanau connection, with Bruce Grace, from Wairoa, scoring a second win in his last season before hitting the top class, by adding the Gisborne senior title to the Waimate Shears title he won in the South Island seven days earlier.

No 1 2023-2024 junior shearer Kaivah Cooper, of Napier, claimed his first intermediate win, after finishing second at Waimate, and Kirkpatrick’s niece, Jodiesha Kirkpatrick, of Gisborne, won both the shearing and woolhandling junior finals.

The senior woolhandling final was won by Nohokainga Maraki, of Flaxmere and the novice titles both went to Gisborne competitors – Lexi Wallace in the shearing and Tu Puhia in the woolhandling.

The Gisborne championships attracted 114 entries, comprising 69 shearers and 45 woolhandlers.

Kirkpatrick’s win came ahead of Friday’s Great Raihania Shears at the Hawke’s Bay Show in Hastings, where he has had four open wins since the show’s shearing was revived in 2004.

The Hawke’s Bay show in 1902 staged the first machine shearing competition in the world, won by Rimitiriu (The Great) Raihania.

Gisborne Shearing and Woolhandling Championships results:

Poverty Bay A and P Show, Saturday, October 19, 2024.

Shearing:

Open final (15 sheep): John Kirkpatrick (Pakipaki) 14m 33s, 49.9833pts, 1; David Buick (Pongaroa) 14m 6s, 50.7667pts, 2; Hemi Braddick (Eketahuna) 14m 28s, 50.9333pts, 3; Paerata Abraham (Masterton) 13m 29s, 51.05pts, 4; Tama Niania (Gisborne) 14m 22s, 51.5667prs, 5.

Senior final (8 sheep): Bruce Grace (Wairoa/Napier) 9m 12s, 36.475pts, 1; Laura Bradley (Papatawa) 9m 20s, 38.375pts, 2; Dylan Young (Gisborne) 9m 58s, 39.025pts, 3; Jack Hutchinson (England) 9m 44s, 39.95pts, 4; Jesse Fleming (Whatatutu) 10m, 46.5pts, 5.

Intermediate final (5 sheep): Kaivah Cooper (Napier) 7m 10s, 28.1pts, 1; Ryka Swann (Wairoa) 7m, 34.6pts, 2; Reese Harwood (-) 7m 43s, 35.15pts, 3; Heath Barnsdall (Piopio) 8m 37s, 36.45pts, 4; Mitch Nation (Napier) 7m 25s, 42.45pts, 5.

Junior final (4 sheep): Jodiesha Kirkpatrick (Gisborne) 9m, 33.5pts, 1; George Peacock (Waipukurau) 7m 50s, 39pts, 2; Tatijana Keefe (Raupunga) 9m 53s, 40.65pts, 3; Ben Vanner (Wairoa) 9m 57s, 46.35pts, 4; Ashlin Swann (Wairoa) 11m 16s, 48.8pts, 5.

Novice (1 sheep): Lexi Wallace (Gisborne) 5m 5s, 25.25pts, 1; Ben Clouston (-) 3m 48s, 294pts, 2; Charlie Bennett (Gisborne) 6m 11s, 30.55pts, 3; Peti Biddle (Gisborne) 3m 21s, 31.05pts, 4; Iziah Castle (Gisborne) 3m 20s, 33pts, 5.

Woolhandling:

Open final: Joel Henare (Gisborne/Motueka) 113.868pts, 1; Monica Potae (Kennedy Bay) 160.092pts, 2; Keryn Herbert (Te Kuiti) 205.668pts, 3; Marika Braddick (Eketahuna) 237.072pts, 4.

Senior final: Nohokainga Maraki (Flaxmere) 121.876pts, 1; Tatijana Keefe (Raupunga) 123.444pts, 2; Jamie Pinfold (Gisborne) 144.32pts, 3; Clara Taingahue (Gisborne) 181.4pts, 4.

Junior final: Jodiesha Kirkpatrick (Gisborne) 108.112pts, 1; Mere Maraki (Flaxmere) 108.666pts, 2; Shaquille Hauiti (Pongaroa) 139.802pts, 3; Kalyah Ferguson (Otane) 150.25pts, 4.

Novice: Tu Puhia (Gisborne) 41.994pts, 1; Makere Ruru (Gisborne) 51.84pts, 2; Kiera Phillips (-) 52.502pts, 3; Emma Davoren (Gisborne) 56.62pts, 4.