Shearing: Wins for national champs at Tapanui and Nelson

Veteran Southland shearer Nathan Stratford winning the PGG Wrightson Vetmed National Shearing Circuit for a third time. Photo / Pete Nikolaison

Two multiple winners of the national shearing circuit came out on top in two separate South Island competitions over 900km apart by road in the mainland on Saturday.

The red ribbons went to Invercargill shearer Nathan Stratford, who has now won the West Otago A and P Show’s Open final at Tapanui 16 times in 23 years, and Marlborough gun Angus Moore, who won the Nelson A and P Show Open title for a fifth time in eight years.

They’ve each won the PGG Wrightson/Vetmed national circuit three times, and in March were in a three-man team that beat Australia in a transtasman test match in Masterton.

In all, Stratford has had 18 wins at Tapanui, starting with the Junior final in 1992, and the Senior final in 1994, followed by Open final wins in 2000, 2002-2003, 2005, 2008-2012, 2015-2017, 2019, and 2022-2024, and has scored 87 wins in Open competition.

Stratford was just pipped by fellow Southland shearer Andy Mainland as each went under 20 minutes in Saturday’s four-man final over 20 sheep each.

Mainland won the race by 5-6 seconds, but, as usual, Stratford had the quality well covered to claim victory by almost three points.

It was a particularly good day for the households of Chris Malcolm and father Wayne, who won the Senior and Intermediate finals respectively.

Scoring a comfortable win by almost six points over runner-up and South African shearer Ludre Pelser and 2023-2024 No 1-ranked Intermediate Emma Martin, it was Chris Malcolm’s fifth win, enduring four years and almost 20 finals since his next most recent − his first Senior win, at Waimate four years ago.

His results over the years include placings at finals in all the A grade shows in the South Island, a fourth placing at the New Zealand Shears in Te Kuiti in 2019, and a West Otago Intermediate win in 2016.

But this year’s Intermediate final provided a first win for his father, who has shorn just Southland shows over the last 10-12 years, with a string of finals placings at Tapanui.

The show’s Open speedshear was won by Brandon Maguire-Ratima, shearing 21 seconds on the big West Otago hoggets, and Pelser won the Senior speedshear.

At Richmond Park, Nelson, Moore, who had previously won at Nelson in 2017 and three times consecutively in 2020-2022, also went under 20 minutes in a 20-sheep final for his first win of the season.

Also with the better quality, he won by almost four points from runner-up and top Nelson area shearer and 2018 and 2023 winner Travers Baigent, of Wakefield.

Southland shearer Dre Roberts made the most of a stop on the trip for mainshear in the North Island by winning the Senior final by just 0.19pts from North Canterbury shearer Liam Norrie.

It was Roberts’ third win in 16 finals since the start of last season − one of the wins having been much closer to home at Tapanui last November.

Nelson nurse Kimberly Whalon (nee Maclean), from Motueka, hit the threshold of promotion to Senior class next season by scoring her sixth Intermediate win, all of them in the B–grade and C-grade shows in the region, while Thomas Curnow, of Lake Station, St Arnaud, won the Junior final.

It was a double hit for Moore, who later won the Open speedshear at the Nelson North Country Club, and Norrie beat Roberts in the Senior speedshear.

There were 25 entries across three classes at the West Otago show, and 26 across four classes at Nelson, the shows being the last on the Shearing Sports New Zealand calendar pre-Christmas in the South Island, with competition resuming at the Peninsula Duvauchelle Shears on January 11.

In the North Island, the pre-Christmas stage of the season will round off with the Taranaki Shears at the Stratford A and P Show next Saturday, and the Whangārei and Rotorua A and P shows on December 7.

West Otago

RESULTS from the West Otago A and P Show Shears at Tapanui on Saturday, November 23, 2024:

Open final (20 sheep): Nathan Stratford (Invercargill) 19m 22.25s, 61.7625pts, 1; Andy Mainland (Invercargill) 19m 16.78s, 64.639pts, 2; Cory Palmer (Dipton) 19m 52.12s, 65.356pts, 3; Brayden Clifford (Waikaka) 21m 46.13s, 74.3065pts, 4.

Senior final (6 sheep): Chris Malcolm (Winton) 7m 41.1s, 31.3883pts, 1; Ludre Pelser (Bloemfontein, South Africa) 8m 23.06s, 37.153pts, 2; Emma Martin (Wyndham) 9m 50s, 37.1667pts, 3; Jordan White (-) 9m 6.9s, 38.1783pts, 4.

Intermediate final (5 sheep): Wayne Malcolm (Winton) 9m 9.31s, 37.0655pts, 1; Hamish Bielski (Clinton) 9m 48.24s, 37.912pts, 2; Tom Borlase (-) 9m 10.4s, 38.92pts, 3; James Hogan (Woodlands) 12m 39.91s, 50.1955pts, 4.

Nelson

RESULTS from the Nelson A and P Show Shears on Saturday, November 23, 2024:

Open final (20 sheep): Angus Moore (Ward) 19m 40.16s, 65.71pts, 1; Travers Baigent (Wakefield) 20m 5.69s, 69.63pts, 2; Nick Nalder (Takaka) 20m 17.9s, 71.5pts, 3; Duncan Higgins (Blenheim) 22m 37.08s, 77.9pts, 4.

Senior final (8 sheep): Dre Roberts (Mataura) 10m 7.28s, 39.86pts, 1; Liam Norrie (Amberley) 11m 3.47s, 40.05pts, 2; Ethan Fladgate (Te Awamutu) 10m 51.81s, 43.34pts, 3; Jesse Sullivan (Mayfield) 11m 17.59s, 47.88pts, 4.

Intermediate final (5 sheep): Kimberly Whalon (Motueka) 10m 16.57s, 40.53pts, 1; Emilia Meling (Norway) 10m 7s, 40.75pts, 2; Billy Collins (Ward) 9m 50s, 42.9pts, 3; Pax Leetch (Collingwood) 13m 13.47s, 49.67pts, 4.

Junior final (4 sheep): Thomas Curnow (Lake Station) 7m 37.25s, 36.53pts, 1; Holly Crombie (Rangiora) 8m 44.25s, 40.88pts, 2; Sam Maclean (Motueka) 10m 6.47s, 50.99pts, 3; Charlotte Boyce (Blenheim) 14m 53.75s, 66.69pts, 4.