NZ Agricultural Show cancelled: Hopes NZ Corriedale Shearing and Woolhandling Championships will go ahead

Judges briefing at the start of the 2017 New Zealand Corriedale Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Christchurch in 2017. Photo / SSNZ

Organisers of the major national shearing competition the New Zealand Corriedale Shearing and Woolhandling Championships hope it will go ahead, despite the cancellation of the 2024 New Zealand Agricultural Show.

The show’s cancellation was announced on Tuesday and came as a surprise to championships committee chairman Dave Brooker.

The New Zealand Agricultural Show, formerly known as the Canterbury A & P Show, was to have been held on November 13-15 and is the basis of Christchurch’s Show Week attractions.

The open shearing championship at the show is one of five legs of the PGG Wrightson Vetmed National Shearing Circuit.

It also stages the final of the Donaghys Canterbury Shearing Circuit.

Brooker said it was unlikely any decisions would be made on the competition in the next two to three weeks, which sees the annual meeting of the competition organisation and the South Island committee of Shearing Sports New Zealand, and a meeting of the national circuit committee.

Show organisers said in a statement yesterday that some show drawcards, such as livestock and judging competitions, would still be held this year.

Brooker said the Corriedale shears, established almost 60 years ago, had never had a cancellation.

During the Covid era, the 2020 event was held at Marble Point Station, near Hanmer Springs, and the following year it was still held in Christchurch, despite the cancellation of the show.

The Marble Point event was widely regarded as a success, and the following year in Christchurch it triumphed in being one of the few events held.

However, Brooker said there was a wide range of factors to be considered before decisions were made.

The cancellation comes as Shearing Sports New Zealand develops a calendar for the 2024-2025 season, expected to include close to 60 events nationwide from October to Easter next year, driven by the fact that more than two-thirds of the dates are decided by the timing of the A & P shows of which they are a part.