Shearing Sports New Zealand
Leon Samuels, of Invercargill, on his way to winning the New Zealand Shears circuit final in Te Kuiti on Saturday night. Earlier in the day, Samuels won the National All-Breeds Circuit final.
Invercargill shearer Leon Samuels is still buzzing after leading what s been dubbed a “southern blast” by organisers of the New Zealand Shears shearing and woolhandling championships. Samuels won the New Zealand Shears Circuit final before taking the New Zealand Shears Open Plate title, and leading the South Island team to their first inter-island win on northern soil in 13 years. “Words can’t explain what I’m feeling,” he said on Sunday after arriving back in Invercargill from the national competition held in Te Kuiti at the weekend.
Lawrence Gullery/Stuff
Judges stand back to watch the wool handler competitors including Anita Phillips from Taumarunui, assisted by shearer Sam Brooks, in one of the Open Wool Handling heats at the New Zealand Shearing Championships in Te Kuiti.
Chelsea Collier s arms move in and around the sheep with robotic precision. Her hands work at high speed to delicately pick out the best quality wool, separating it from the dirty wool, as the shearer works his way around the animal on stage at the Les Munro Centre in Te Kuiti. Collier was among the men and women competing in the Open Wool Handling event at this year s New Zealand Shearing Championships in the King Country.
Wednesday, 7 April 2021, 12:31 pm
Organisers of the New Zealand Shears are breathing a sigh
of relief as they bounce-back from the cancellation of last
year’s event to stage the 2021 championships starting in
Te Kuiti tomorrow(Thursday).
More than 200 shearers
and woolhandlers will compete in the three-day
championships, which 12 months ago became one of the early
casualties of the 2021 Covid-19 Level 4 lockdown –
called-off for the first time since the New Zealand
championships were resurrected initially as the new King
Country Shears in 1985.
While a Level 2 alert which
cancelled this year’s Golden Shears in Masterton at just
four days’ notice a month ago sent shivers up the spines
Waimarino Shears goes bilingual nzherald.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nzherald.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
SSNZA/Supplied
Napier’s Angela Stevens in the thick of the action at the end of the Āpiti open woolhandling final on Saturday.
Southland shearers who loomed as the biggest hopes for a first South Island win in the Golden Shears open final in 32 years are returning home gutted after Covid-19 stripped them of the opportunity. The end of the dream came when the 61st Golden Shears, scheduled to start in Masterton on Thursday, were cancelled after Sunday’s Covid-19 alert level increase. Southland shearers Nathan Stratford, Leon Samuels and Brett Roberts underpinned their prospects by finishing first, third and fourth, respectively, in a six-man final over 20 sheep each at the Āpiti Show in Manawatū on Saturday.