Shearing: North Canterbury’s Blake Crooks travels 800km to win competition

Blake Crooks, who drove 400km each way from Rangiora to Nelson and back just to shear at the Nelson A and P Show on Saturday. He was rewarded with his seventh win, at seven different venues, in the last 10 months. Photo / SSNZ

North Canterbury shearer Blake Crooks showed all the grit of a champion when he drove close to 400km each way to compete at the Nelson A and P Show on Saturday.

With three senior wins behind him this season, including a last-start victory at the New Zealand Corriedale Championships in Christchurch on November 17, he made the trip, he said, because he hadn’t been to the Nelson show before.

As it happened, Crooks was one of just six shearers who fronted for the senior event, with a total of 17 across the four grades.

The good news was that he won the senior final and put a bit more gas in the tank with a senior speed shear win on Saturday night at the Nelson North Country Club.

It was Crooks’ seventh win at seven different venues in the last 10 months, having first won at the Inangahua A and P Show’s Reefton Shears in February.

He didn’t pick up a win in either of his junior or intermediate seasons, but since joining the senior ranks, won last season at Masefield and Oxford and this year at Rangiora and Ashburton.

He first competed at the Golden Shears as a junior, and in the 2021-2022 season was runner-up in national title intermediate events at Waimate and Christchurch, and also scored second-placing at Pleasant Point.

Last summer Crooks was runner-up in senior events at Pleasant Point, Christchurch, Peninsular-Duvauchelle and the Mackenzie A and P show’s national lamb shearing championships in Fairlie.

The 26-year-old, from Gisborne and a Hamilton Boys High boarder in school days, started out shepherding, then ran a lifestyle shearing business in Wellington before deciding to go shearing full-time.

He said it would have been good to see more shearers on Saturday “but was a good day anyway”.

On Saturday he shore the eight-sheep final in 10min 10 sec, almost a minute quicker than his nearest rival, and ultimately won by just 1.22pts from Aaron Magee, from Ireland.

Wakefield shearer Travers Baigent won the Nelson open title for a second time, beating veteran and runner-up Nick Nalder, of Takaka by over three points, with Marlborough shearer Duncan Higgins, who is still hoping for his first open win, finishing third.

Read more shearing and woolhandling news here.

Fourth place went to 2012, 2013 and 2016 winner Chris Jones, also from Marlborough.

Higgins won the show’s Clean Shears, and Baigent won the open speed shear at the Country Club.

Results from the Nelson A and P Show Shears on Saturday, November 25, 2023:

Open final (20 sheep): Travers Baigent (Wakefield) 19min 58.91sec, 69.9pts, 1; Nick Nalder (Takaka) 20min 38sec, 73.35pts, 2; Duncan Higgins (Blenheim) 22min 41.06sec, 78.43pts, 3; Chris Jones (Blenheim) 24min 58sec, 85.65pts, 4.

Senior final (8 sheep): Blake Crooks (Rangiora) 10min 10.66sec, 43.41pts, 1; Aaron Magee (Ireland) 12min 15.16sec, 44.63pts, 2; Alice Watson (Seddon) 12min 20.16sec, 46.63pts, 3; Timo Hicks (Tapawera) 11min 8.56sec, 46.68pts, 4.

Intermediate final (6 sheep): Ethan Fladgate (Te Awamutu) 9min 33.78sec, 34.69pts, 1; Thomas Adams (Blenheim) 9min 58.25sec, 47.25pts, 2.

Junior final (2 sheep): Thomas Marchant (-) 6min 8.2sec, 49.19pts, 1; Thomas Curnow (Nelson Lakes) 6min 15.16sec, 51.26pts, 2; Ashlee Blanchett (novice, Brightwater) 11min 5.47sec, 59.77pts, 3.

Clean shear (2 sheep): Duncan Higgins (open, Blenheim) 4pts, 1; Aaron Magee (senior, Ireland) 4.5pts, 2; Travers Baigent (open, Wakefield) 5pts, 3; Nick Nalder (open, Takaka) 11pts, 4.