Northland-raised Hawke’s Bay shearer Rowland Smith has tonight completed an amazing reply to his omission from the New Zealand World Championships team with a cleansweep of major events on the final night of the 57th Golden Shears in Masterton

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Rowland Smith winner

It wasn’t so much the title he wanted but it’ll do for Napier shearer Ricci Stevens after he won the Junior woolhandling title at the 57th Golden Shears in Masterton today.

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Ricci Stevens woolhandler

Invercargill shearer Nathan Stratford has loomed as a big hope of claiming the South Island’s first win in the Golden Shears Open final for the first time in 28 years.

It was a bit more than a dream come true for Taranaki shearer Darren Alexander as he won the Golden Shears Senior shearing title, emulating the win by father Lloyd Alexander in 1988.

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Darren Alexander

The World champion New Zealand woolhandling team of Gisborne’s Joel Henare and Mayryanne Baty has been kept intact for next season’s Transtasman series after Baty’s win today in the North Island Open woolhandling circuit final it the Golden Shears in Masterton.

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Maryanne Baty

A bit of pining for home was behind the success of Taihape’s Jamie McLean as she won her second Golden Shears woolhandling title in Mssterton today.

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Senior Woolhandlers

Shearing at the Golden Shears was one of the last things on the mind of farmer Mark Ferguson as he started to the feel the grip of a tough Hawke’s Bay summer a while before Christmas.

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Mark Fergusson - winner

A new career-path could be beckoning for French Ambassador to New Zealand Florence Jeanblanc-Risler who wants to compete for her country when it hosts the World shearing and woolhandling championships in two years’ time.

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French Ambassador shears 1 & French Ambassador shears 2

Things might be looking up for shearing prodigy Jack Fagan to emulate some of the feats of father Sir David Fagan following a win today in historic Golden Shears event the YFC Blue Ribbon Championship.

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James Fagan - YFC winner 1 & James Fagan - YFC winner 2

Napier shearer, woolhandler and presser Ricci Stevens grabbed some consolation for the Kirkpatrick family shearing enterprise’s Golden Shears Day 2 disappointments when he won the Triathlon, the best combined points in all three disciplines in the shearing sports.

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Ricci Stevens

Two crack kiwi woolhandlers have drawn first blood in the Masterton leg of the twin Transtasman shearing and woolhandling series’ by winning the woolhandling test against Australia at the Golden Shears in Masterton tonight.

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Sheree & Joel

There’s been a boilover at the Golden Shears in Masterton tonight with new World Champion shearer John Kirkpatrick failing to reach the glamour Golden Shears Open final for only the second time in 20 years.

He’s 68 and, some would say, should be thinking of retiring.

But that’s not the way for the oldest person in the Golden Shears Open shearing championship elder statesman and Carterton shearer Richard Pearson.

Farm shepherd Mark Baxter had a handy sort of role model to get him on the way in father and former YFC national Young Farmer of the Year Shaun.

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mark-baxter-winner

Gisborne woolhandler Aromia Ngarangione only wanted to pay off the student loan.

But the EIT graduate’s return to fulltime work in woolsheds, after three years studying contemporary art, had an even better reward when she won the Golden Shears Novice woolhandling title in Masterton today.

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aromia-ngarongione

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aromia-ngarongione-winner

Competing together for the first time were 61-year-old John Hicks and 29-year-old schoolteacher-son Jono Hicks, while the opposition was Christine Wolland, 38, and son Tyrone Oliver a second year pupil at Makoura College in Masterton who turns 15 next week.

Hawke’s Bay shearer Rowland Smith has been rated such a hot favourite to successfully defend the Golden Shears Open title that the TAB has also opened a pool excluding him from the options.

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Rowland Smith

Shearing legend Sir David Fagan tomorrow(Thursday) heads to Masterton’s Golden Shears for a 42nd year in a row as keen as ever about the big event, despite industry and sports concerns about a drop in the number of entries.

One of the many tireless workers and competitors during the World shearing and woolhandling championship in Invercargill earlier this month has been rewarded with a big win on the eve of the 57th Golden Shears.

Scoring systems in shearing, woolhandling and pressing competitions are based on combinations of time, job and quality penalties. The lowest score wins.