Support from son lucky charm for Avery

SHEARING MAGAZINE

Paul Avery hard at work on Saturday.

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Taranaki's world champion shearer, Paul Avery, was resting up at Urenui Beach yesterday after carding yet another national lamb shearing championship.

In a 20-lamb final on Saturday at the Western Shears in Raglan, the 42-year-old Toko farmer won the title for a third time, beating runner-up and world champ-ionships team-mate John Kirkpatrick of Napier by 1.744 points, a comfortable margin in the context of the history of the event.

"I got off to a pretty good start but the 13th or 14th lamb started kicking," Avery said. That allowed Taranaki-based Scotsman, Gavin Mutch, to get past him by 12 seconds.

Nevertheless, Avery came in with the overall win, taking out the best outside score and the second fastest time to walk off with the title.

Avery says he's enjoying having his son, David, just 15, in support as his penman. David also backed him up during his win at the Stratford show.

"I might have to get him to do more of it. He's been good luck."

Shearing is hard on the body, especially on the back, and Avery says he will carry a few injuries with him into the heavy year ahead.

"I've had a groin strain through the winter and the world champs. Now I've got tennis elbow."

Ironically, he suspects he actually got the tennis elbow from playing tennis, not shearing. "So I'm at the beach resting it now."

The next shearing event is at Tauranga on January 17 and 18.

"Then I've got two competitions, if not three, every week until April 15. So this is the start of a busy season," Avery said.

Mutch was first off the board in 14min 49.84sec, beating Avery by 12, but lesser quality pushed him back into third place, stopping him from repeating his 2006 win in the event, regarded as one of the most significant victories by an overseas shearer in New Zealand.

Last year's winner, Dean Ball, of Te Kuiti, was fourth, and surprise finalist, Rowland Smith, of Ruawai, was fifth.

The senior title was won by first-year senior Mark Grainger, son of 1985 Golden Shears open champion and Te Kuiti gun Paul Grainger.

The intermediate title was won by Tipene Te Whata, son of former World lamb shearing record holder Sam Te Whata, and Masterton teenager Cushla Gordon used the woman's touch of quality over speed to win the junior championship, despite being last off the board in her four-lamb final.

Te Awamutu claimed two of the three wool handling titles, 29-year-old Keryn Herbert adding the open championship to the New Zealand Spring Championship she won at Waimate in October.

Cathy Christey, also 29, won the junior title, the first win of her career after two years of trying.

The senior woolhandling title was won by Angela Aldridge, of Te Kuiti.