Taihape woolhandler wins junior title at New Zealand Shears

Tre Ratana Sciascia, of Taihape, won the junior woolhandling title at the New Zealand Shears in Te Kuiti. Photo / SSNZ

A Taihape teenager who has claimed the New Zealand Shears junior woolhandling title remembers starting woolhandling even before starting school.

Woolhandlers from different ends of the competition spectrum claimed the first titles at the New Zealand Shears in Te Kuiti on Thursday.

Tre Ratana Sciascia, 17, was born into a Kiwi shearing family in Hamilton, Victoria, and has rarely been far away from the woolshed.

Having moved to New Zealand aged about 10, Ratana Sciascia has worked for premier contractors Peter and Elsie Lyon in Central Otago as well as around the Taihape area, and this week claimed a second major title for the year, having won the junior woolhandling title at the New Zealand Crossbred Lambshearing Championships in Winton, Southland, in January.

Ratana Sciascia had second placings at the Gisborne Shears in October and the Wairarapa Pre-Shears championships near Masterton, just before the Golden Shears at which the woolhandler missed a place in the final.

Cat Christey, who calls herself a general hand who does all sorts on a farm near Waitomo, has barely competed since 2009 when she won the junior final. However, in her only event of the season on the first day of the three-day Shears, Christey won the senior final, beating new Golden Shears champion Rahera Kerr, of Hauturu, and the season’s No 1-ranked senior for the year, Vinniye Phillips (Taumarunui).

The senior and junior woolhandling championships were the only titles decided on the opening day, with 59 competing across the grades, including 22 in the open grade, for which the final will be held on Saturday night.

Friday was dominated by shearing events, including finals of the novice and junior grades, the women’s event and the open-grade North Island Shearer of the Year.

More than 160 have entered across the shearing grades, with the intermediate and senior finals being shorn on Saturday, along with the open grade from heats to the final, part of a Saturday-night programme also including the New Zealand Shears Circuit final.

Woolhandling results

Senior: Cat Christey (King Country) 78.12pts 1; Rahera Kerr (Hauturu) 80.37pts 2; Vinniye Phillips (Taumarunui) 95.994pts 3; Summer Pritchard (Pongaroa) 96.87pts 4; Tira Ngarangione (Gisborne) 103.22pts 5.

Junior: Tre Ratana Sciascia (Taihape) 73.744pts 1; Te Whetu Brown (Wairoa) 81.38pts 2; Makayla Neil (Taumarunui) 90.144pts 3; Chloe Henderson (Feilding) 112.5pts 4; Kelly Barrett-Thom (Kāwhia) 118.25pts 5.