Central Hawke’s Bay woolsheds will be the scene of separate attempts to bring two world shearing records back to New Zealand in December and January.
The first is on December 22, when Bay of Plenty shearer Jamie Skiffington makes a second bid for the solo nine-hours title="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/the-country/news/englishman-stu-connor-sets-new-world-shearing-record/M2S66UDLRU56XQIKZUO3EHSHZI/">strong wool lambs record of 872 set by now Hawke’s Bay-based English shearer Stu Connor in Cornwall in 2021.
The attempt will take place at a farm in Skippers Rd, Porangahau.
Skiffington’s first attempt was in January 2025, when he withdrew after 7h 40m, with 733 shorn and the target out of reach, at Waewaepa, east of Dannevirke.
The second record bid will be on January 8, when Dannevirke-based Flynn Harvey and Clay Harris, of Piopio, target the two-stand eight-hours strong wool ewes record of 1075 in a woolshed near Waipukurau.
The record was set in England by shearers Martin Howlett and Jonny Roberts in September 2019.
The attempts are among four record bids nationwide so far scheduled by the World Sheep Shearing Records Society.
On December 18, established record-breaker Megan Whitehead will attempt the women’s nine-hours strong wool lambs record near Gore, targeting the tally of 720 shorn by Sacha Bond near Mossburn in Southland in December 2023.
Tararua district shearer Amy Silcock will on January 29 attempt to break the women’s eight-hours strong wool ewes record at Glenkilrie Farm, Southland, targeting the 465 shorn by Catherine Mullooly in a King Country woolshed in January 2024.
Doug Laing is a Hawke’s Bay Today reporter, based in Napier, with a journalism career of more than 53 years, including more than four decades covering news and sports events and issues in Hawke’s Bay.