Pātea shearer Blake Mitchell wins title at Cneifio Corwen event in Wales

Pātea's Blake Mitchell shearing his way to victory in Wales. Photo / Supplied

A young shearer from Pātea has won at one of the biggest competitions in Wales - only a few months on from his first-ever event.

Blake Mitchell, 20, won the junior shearing final at the Cneifio Corwen Shears.

Around 60 people entered the category and Mitchell said he was the final qualifier into both the semifinals and the finals.

He said winning the competition was an awesome experience, especially as he was still relatively new to the competitive shearing world.

“It’s hard to explain because I’ve never won one before. I just thought I’d have a crack at it and I was like, ‘I’ll see what happens’.”

Across the competition, he shore two sheep in the heats, three in the semifinals and five in the finals.

Competitors were judged on speed but also how well the sheep were shorn.

Point deductions occurred if patches were missed and if a sheep was cut by the shears.

He said in the finals he “just went for it” and managed to finish his shearing before anyone else.

Mitchell was also awarded the cleanest pen of the six finalists.

Initially, he was third overall but was later told there was a scoring error after which he was named the true winner.

His winning margin of 0.7 points was close, but that wasn’t out of the ordinary.

“When it’s in the finals it’s all pretty close together,” he said.

The win came in his third-ever competition, with his first in Marton in February and the second in Wales where he made it to the semifinals of the Cneifio Cothi Shears.

Wales had a particularly large and enthusiastic scene for shearing, he said.

“It’s real competitive, everyone gets into it.

“A lot of people shear over here, even the farmers, they’ll shear their own sheep ... so everyone knows how to shear,” he said.

Locals considered the Corwen shears to be the most competitive competition of the year, he said.

Raised on a dairy farm, Mitchell got into shearing thanks to his uncle, Whanganui- based shearing contractor Matt Thompson.

Thompson called him one day to ask if he wanted to come to Whanganui to help him crutch sheep - removing the dags around their tails and hind legs.

“I went out to stay with him and I was out the back crutching sheep and it sort of all just went from there. I was like, ‘Oh I want to shear a sheep now,” Mitchell said.

“He gave me the opportunity to jump on the stand and actually shear a sheep and I was hooked from there, got the shearing bug definitely.”

He is now off to Australia for a couple of months to compete before coming home to take part in the summer shearing circuit.

Finn Williams is a multimedia journalist for the Whanganui Chronicle. He joined the Chronicle in early 2022 and regularly covers stories about business, events and emergencies. He also enjoys writing opinion columns on whatever interests him.