Rotorua A and P Show’s annual shearing and woolhandling championships cancelled

Action at the last Taihape A and P Show shears in January 2021, with Sean Gouk in the senior final. The 2023 competition will be held this Saturday, but there is no Rotorua competition on Sunday. Photo / SSNZ

The 2022-2023 shearing sports season has had its second cancellation, as a shortage of suitable sheep in Bay of Plenty has ended hopes of staging the Rotorua A and P Show’s annual shearing and woolhandling championships this Sunday.

However, the championships are still expected in 2023, with the Rotorua A and P Show society settling on the first Saturday of December as the date for the future event at its Ngongotaha showgrounds.

There is still plenty on offer despite the cancellation, with two competitions taking place next Saturday - the Taihape Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in the central North Island and the Tapawera Sports Shears south of Nelson.

Competitions have been gathering pace throughout the country, with six competitions over the weekend just gone, attracting a total of more than 250 shearers and woolhandlers nationwide.

Last year three-quarters of the competitions were cancelled amid Covid-19 pandemic restrictions on public gatherings.

Rotorua Show society president Heather Brake, successfully fought hard to make sure the show’s shears happened, getting sheep trucked in from more than 100km away.

However, the farmer who offered the sheep this season had decided that, as a result of the weather of the last few months, they would no longer be suitable for competition, she said.

Attempts to source other sheep had been unsuccessful and the decision was made that the Rotorua event could no longer take place without suitable sheep.

The only other show cancelled this year was the Manawatū A and P Show Shearing and Woolhandling Championships, normally held in Feilding on the first Saturday of November. There are hopes of reviving the event next season.

Shearing Sports New Zealand chairman Sir David Fagan said the 2022-2023 season had started “incredibly positively”, especially after trepidation about how some shows would fare following almost three years of Covid-19 cancellations.

So far a third of the season’s calendar of nearly 60 events has already been held.

Entries at the competitions were mainly up on pre-Covid levels, as highlighted by the numbers competing at the weekend.

“There’s also big interest in selection for the World Championships in Scotland this year, and a lot of people winning finals,” Fagan said.

“It’s an exciting time.”