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Megan Whitehead, 24, will try to shear at least 648 strong wool lambs in nine hours.
A record shearing attempt is underway in a wool shed near Gore.
It’s an early start for clipper Megan Whitehead, who arrived at the board at 5 a.m. for what will be a grueling day as she tries to break the 648 women’s solo women’s nine-hour strong wool shearing record, (72 per hour) established in November 2007 by Waikato clipper Emily Welch.
With the first race already under his belt, he has set a dizzying pace shearing 153 lambs. The first run in 2007 by Welch completed 144.
Whitehead has already finished breakfast and morning tea and has just completed the second 132 shearing run, putting her way ahead of time again.
Race 3 has caught up with Whitehead a bit and he’s down to shearing 126, but he still puts his three lambs ahead on the same race count that was completed in 2007.
Before the attempt, Whitehead told Stuff that while she was nervous, she was also quite excited.
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It won’t be your usual “at the office” day, as months of meticulous planning are put into practice.
If you thought you had a busy morning, think of Whitehead and his schedule.
- 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. – First run (2007 count: 144) (2021 attempt: 153)
- 7 am to 8 am – breakfast
- 8:00 am to 9:45 am – second race (2007 count: 125) (2021 attempt: 132)
- 9.45 am to 10.15 am – morning tea
- 10.15am to 12pm – 3rd race (2007 count: 123) (2021 attempt: 126)
- 12:00 to 13:00 – lunch
- 13: 00-14: 45: fourth race
- 2.45 to 3.15 p.m. afternoon tea
- 15:15 to 17:00 – final race
To see the record attempt, watch the live stream here.
Megan Whitehead practices before her record attempt.
Gore’s Whitehead comes from a shearing family with her mother Tina, a former shearer, and her father Quinton, along with a great team, supporting her for the attempt.
There will be three umpires in the Gore shed and a lead coordinator in New South Wales, as world record attempts must have an international official.
Whitehead already holds a world record as a joint holder of the four-seat women’s record of 2,066 lambs set in the central North Island on January 23, 2020.
There he made a personal best shearing of 608, the best of the day and an average of 67.56 an hour.
Whitehead averaged 53.3 seconds per sheep.
A regular work day involves shearing about 400.
