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Pete Nikolaison / Stuff
The winner of multiple Golden Shears open titles, Rowland Smith, won’t have a chance to add another title to his record this year.
Shearers and “Wimbledon of Shearing” organizers say it was “heartbreaking” to have to pull the pin heading into the Wairarapa exhibit this week.
Invercargill shearer Leon Samuels was in top form leading the competition and had a real shot at becoming the first southern islander in three decades to claim the coveted Golden Shears open title.
“It was heartbreaking to hear that they had made the call, but there wasn’t much they could do about it,” he said.
“I didn’t really believe it. I thought they might find some way around it, being the golden scissors. But obviously, they couldn’t … so they had to make the hardest decision to cancel it. “
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Golden Shears President Sam Saunders said the committee had discussed the Covid-19 situation for many months and decided that the championships could not continue below level 2.
It was the first time since the inaugural event in 1960 that it was canceled, but the organizers had no choice.
“We feel empty about it. Throughout the 60 years, all the different obstacles that we have encountered at times, storms, heat waves and power outages and things like that, we managed to overcome, but this was out of our control. “
PIERS FULLER / Things
Golden Shears President Sam Saunders at The Wool Shed in Masterton.
More than 300 shearers, wool handlers and wool pressers participated in the competition, some of whom had already traveled from Northland and Southland for the weekend competitions prior to the Golden Shears.
The Golden Shears has an annual budget of about $ 250,000 and, like all organizations that host events, it has had to minimize its financial risk, Saunders said.
Doug Laing of Shearing Sports New Zealand said that the likes of Samuels and fellow Invercargill shearer Nathan Stratford had won some of the North Island’s biggest competitions ahead of the four-day Masterton-based event.
Laing said they had a great chance of breaking the South Islanders’ winning drought in Golden Shears since 1989.
“It is very clear that several of them have been putting a lot of work and effort supporting each other in the hope that one of them will.
“I compare their situation with that of some who prepare four years for the Olympic Games and then close it the week before.”
Samuels, 36, attributed his recent streak of success to his wife, who helped him organize and motivate him at the highest level.
Despite his good form, he realized that it was still a big hill to climb to win the open title.
Guys like Roland Smith and Dave Buick always seem to shine on big occasions like this, but winning is at the back of your mind. You never know. “
Golden Shears was an annual institution in Wairarapa and attracted participants and volunteers from across the country who worked to organize one of the largest shearing events in the world.
