Poverty Bay sheep dog trialling legend Merv Utting has got off to a good start at the 2017 North Island and New Zealand championships on one of his most familiar stages by reaching the first-day leaderboard in two of the four classes at Pouawa, North of Gisborne.
The 73-year-old Utting, who was awarded an MNZM in the Queen's Birthday Honours last year for his services to sheep dog trials, made the 4pm call in both the long head and the zig zag hunt, but while having a full team of five at the championships has to wait to see if he holds his positions to the end of the North Island stage of the championships on Friday.
The top seven in each class qualify for the New Zealand Championships runoffs on Saturday, with Utting trying to add to a record of six national titles and 11 at North Island or South Island championships, the most at this year's South Island championships near Balclutha earlier this month.
After heavy overnight rain, the star of the short head and yard runs were delayed until about 10.30am, but the long head was already well under way, along with the zig zag and straight hunts which started about 9am.
