Visiting shearer Tiare Tuipa managed a time of 26.12 seconds to take the inaugural Fastest Time trophy at the Mathoura Speed Shear and Cancer Fundraiser on Saturday.
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Event organiser Anne Robertson said the perpetual trophy was added to the prizes this year as a way of boosting the competition.
Tuipa also managed to claim the Open sharing competition prize, competing against local and other visiting shearers.
One of the Open contenders was former Deniliquin shearer Sash Bond, who claimed the Women’s prize on Saturday.
Bond, who has been travelling since leaving Deniliquin seven months ago, said it was great to see more women competing at the event, and not just in the Women’s category.
There are quite a few female shearers getting around now,’’ she said.
‘‘It was great on Saturday that they not only had a section just for us, but also allowed us to compete in the other section against the males too.
‘‘I have competed at Mathoura for the last four years in a row, and I have won in three of those four years (missing 2017).’’
Deniliquin shearer Jordan Dunbar claimed the Seniors section on Saturday, after deciding at the last minute to enter.
‘‘I only got back from Western Australia the night before, but my girlfriend and my mates told me about the competition,’’ he said.
‘‘It was a pretty good win too, with the prize being $1500 cash. Not bad for shearing only two sheep.
‘‘I think I did do better in the heats than the finals, and that’s probably because sheep seem to go a bit crazy when it rains.
‘‘I had never believed it, but when it did start to rain you could just see the sheep change.’’
Robertson said 30 shearers signed up for Saturday’s competition, which she said was slightly down on last year’s event.
‘‘I think the weather played a bit of a role in that, and as for the spectators the shelter at the Mathoura Rec Reserve was a bit of a lifesaver,’’ she said.
‘‘We did have to take a break from the shearing when the rain got really heavy, but we were back in to it pretty soon after.
‘‘We decided to start the shearing an hour earlier than we had planned because of the weather, but in the end it did not rain as much as we thought it would.
‘‘Overall, we were pretty happy with the number of shearers and spectators, and we finished up before 6pm.’’
A fundraising total from the event was still being tallied as the Pastoral Times went to print yesterday. More details and photos will be in Friday’s edition.
Results:
Open – Tiare Tuipa, 1; Dale Crowe, 2; Dale Murray, 3; Halen Wakefield, 4; Storm Tamati, 5.
Intermediate – Luke Atkinson, 1; Mark Connors, 2; Frank Langrell, 3; Bernie Till, 4; Thomas Whytcross, 5.
Seniors – Jordan Dunbar, 1; Matt Hill, 2; Reef Wereta, 3; Emily Te Kapa, 4; Brad Rhodes, 5.
Women’s – Sasha Bond, 1; Emily Te Kapa, 2; Lexie Phillips, 3; Kim Ellis, 4.
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