Whanganui shearer Simon Goss to take on world record solo shearing challenge

Whanganui shearer Simon Goss will attempt to break a solo shearing world record of shearing more than 731 strong-wool ewes on January 5. Photo / Ariana Aspinall

Whanganui shearer Simon Gross will try his luck at breaking one of the toughest shearing records.

Goss, the brother of former Black Ferns captain Sarah Hirini, will try to shear more than 731 strong-wool ewes on January 5.

The previous record, which took nine hours to complete, was set in 2016 by another New Zealand shearer, Matt Smith.

Smith broke a nearly decade-old record, first set by Rodney Sutton of Hawke’s Bay.

Goss is an open-class competition shearer and was the top-ranked senior shearer in the 2019-20 season, winning 13 finals.

The 28-year-old is already in the books of the World Sheep Shearing Records Society for a two-stand strong-wool lambs record for eight hours in January 2023.

Two months later, he sheared 804 mixed-age ewes in nine hours but they were not subject to rules and conditions, such as the sheep needing an average of at least 3kg of wool each.

Goss said the disqualification motivated him to attempt the upcoming challenge.

“That 804 was a result of a brilliant day. I wanted to do 700 but, once we got going, we really just wanted to see how far things could be pushed,” Goss said.

“The ewes weren’t record-crutched, and not full-wool, it was just a shed tally, but it did probably light a little flame.”

He will take on the challenge at Te Pa Station in Waimarino.

“We just wanted to make sure all boxes were being met before setting it in stone,” he said.