The Junior, Intermediate and Senior heats took place
on Saturday afternoon with the Wool-Handling competition taking place in
the evening. The four finalists qualifying through, furiously looking
after five fleeces each, throwing them on a table, wrapping them up and
sweeping up the boards – all this at break neck speed. With the top
place being secured by Bronwen Tango from Corwen after being runner up
for the last two years. Leanne Bertram from Lanarkshire taking runner-up
spot with last year’s winner Linda McWhirter from Kintyre and Hayley
Holmes from New Zealand taking 3rd and 4th place respectively.
A wet Sunday morning saw the open contestants competed for a place in
the quarterfinal. From 51 competitors down to 20 it was going to be hard
to make the cut, quality of workmanship and speed would be the order of
the day. The competition progressed through the afternoon with all the
semi finals, with competitors reckoning that this is one of the hardest
competitions to make it into the 4 stand final.
The pace of the finals got faster as the evening progressed starting
with the Junior final where they shore four sheep in around 5 minutes
with newcomer to Lochearnhead, John Gibson from Helensburgh taking the
silverwear. Taking runner-up place was Calum Shaw from Saline, Fife,
with Jimmy Wright, Ardlui, Loch Lomondside and Mark Robson,
Northumberland taking 3rd and 4th places respectively.
The traditional hand-shearing event saw a very close final with past
winner Donald McColl, Fort William coming out the victor, ahead of
Stuart McDougall from Kelty, Euan Cameron, Kinloch Rannoch and last
year’s winner David Ferguson, Newton Stewart taking 2nd, 3rd and 4th
places.
The International relay was next, where teams of three from New Zealand,
England, Scotland and Wales competed in what was a crowd thrilling event
with supports from each of these nations cheering on their team. The New
Zealand Team of past Golden Shears winners Dion King, Johnny Kirkpatrick
and young Ritchie McGuire, a senior finalist at Lochearnhead in 2006,
were triumphant, clear winners by nearly 4 points from Wales with
England and Scotland taking 3rd and 4th places respectively.
Three Scotsmen and an New Zealander lined up in the Intermediate final
with Richard Robinson from Denny taking the red ribbon ahead of Tad
McNeildge from NZ, Brian Simpson from Blairgowrie and last year’s Junior
Champion Stewart Kennedy from Aberfeldy.
For the first time in history and one of the highlights of the two days
the Scotland versus France Test saw Allan Wright, Simon Bedwell and
Grant Lundie compete against the French team of Thimo Resneau, Philippe
Leygonie and Jean Jacques Leygonie who challenged each other at the
French Shears in Martel last July. The experience of the Scottish team
on their own sheep resulted in them getting the edge over the French.
Once again Lochearnhead welcomed the official New Zealand team of Paul
Avery and David Fagan, led by team Manager Neil Sidwell, and followed by
the traditional Haka. The Scottish representatives of the test were
Gavin Mutch and Hamish Mitchell with team manager and chief judge for
the weekend Andrew Dodds, once again the Scottish team on the blackface
hoggs proved to be the winners in a very close fought and exciting
event.
The line up in the senior final, saw one Welshman and three local
Scotsmen, with the pace moving up another gear the finalists shore their
10 sheep in around 9 ½ minutes, with Jordan Smeaton from Kinloch
Rannoch, one of last year’s Intermediate finalists coming out over 3
points ahead of Robin Roberts from Bala, North Wales and committee
members Mark Armstrong from Ardeonaig taking 3rd and David Higginson
from Callander taking 4th.
The finale of the day, the Open Final, once again got the crowd of their
seats, with the top four shearers of the day competing over 20 sheep for
the this coveted title. Newcomer to this final was Golden Shears title
holder Paul Avery from Taranaki, New Zealand with experienced finalists
Gavin Mutch, Stephen Capstick and accompanied by 5 times Scottish
Blackface Shearing Champion David Fagan. In the tightest fought contest
with 0.75 separating the four contestants. At his third attempt at
Lochearnhead Shears the crowd favourite Paul Avery came out victor, with
the popular Scotsman Gavin Mutch second, English champion Stephen
Capstick coming third and David Fagan fourth.
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