Back to Blog

World Champ under no illusion

Winning a world woolhandling title in familiar conditions is one thing. Travelling halfway around the world and winning one is another thing entirely. That's the challenge that faces the 2014 World Woolhandling Champion, Hilary Bond of England as she prepares for her title defence at the 2017 World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships at ILT Stadium Southland in Invercargill, New Zealand, in February. New Zealand has traditionally dominated world Woolhandling with the late Joanne Kumeroa...

Fagan - World Champs biggest moment of career

It's been a long wait but we finally have the New Zealand Shearing and Woolhandling team confirmed to compete at the World Championships in Invercargill in February. Most of the talk has been about who isn't there with Rowland Smith missing out on selection, but in Johnny Kirkpatrick and Nathan Stratford, we still have an incredibly strong New Zealand combination. You couldn't wish for a better competitor than John to handle the pressure on any of the wool types, whether it's full or second ...

The World at his doorstep - The Southland Times

By Michael Fallow - The Southland Times Sometimes the sound of your own name can leave you puzzled, scrambling in the disorientation of the moment to come to terms with what those two so-very-familiar of words even mean. It's a moment that awaits Nathan Stratford as he steps off the board at the Canterbury A&P show physically shattered, his heart racing but not soaring. "Nah," the 42-year-old Invercargill shearer tells his wife Lisa. "Haven't done enough." Around him five other ace blade...

Dobbs to try and stretch undefeated run to Worlds

While the All Blacks' run of consecutive victories grabbed all the headlines, there was a wily South Canterbury blade shearer who was quietly dominating his chosen discipline just as emphatically. His name is Tony Dobbs and his undefeated competition run stretches back to the 2014 and now sits at 25, after his latest victory at the Canterbury A&P Show last week. Dobbs will anchor the New Zealand blade shearing team at the 2017 World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Invercargill...

VIDEO - NZ Team Selection Final Livestream Replay

Watch the six best shearers in the country go head-to-head to determine who will shear for New Zealand at the 2017 World Championships in Invercargill....

AUDIO - Nathan Stratford on The Hits Southland

Nathan Stratford joins James & Liv from The Hits Southland 98.8 to discuss his selection in the New Zealand team for the World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships, how long it takes to shear a sheep and what he's doing between now and the Worlds in February....

Stratford and Kirkpartick confirm selection for Worlds

Hosting a World Championship shearing event in your home-town is rare. Making the team to represent your country in that same event, even rarer. But, that's the scenario facing Southlander Nathan Stratford after he caused the second boil-over in as many days at the New Zealand World Championship Shearing Team Selection Finals, held in Christchurch on Friday. A ten-month long selection process ended in dramatic fashion at the Canterbury A&P Show with Stratford edging reigning World and N...

VIDEO - NZ Team Interviews & Highlights

Watch below our interviews with the members of the New Zealand team, confirmed to represent their country at the World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Invercargill in February 2017. Click here for extended audio interviews....

AUDIO - NZ Team Interviews

Listen below to interviews with each of the members of the New Zealand team, confirmed to represent their country at the World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Invercargill in February 2017. Click here for video highlights and interviews. ...

Southern man gets nod for World Champs

Southland shearer Nathan Stratford has created a promoter's dream by winning a place in the 2017 World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Invercargill. The 42-year-old with the traditional Southland accented "R" won selection in the New Zealand team in Christchurch today with a stunning second place to three-times World championships contender John Kirkpatrick, of Napier. But more stunning was the elimination of hot-favourite and reigning World champion Rowland Smith, of Hastings, fin...

Baty bolts into New Zealand team

A bolter. It's an oft-used term in the sporting world, thrown about regularly and sometimes inappropriately. But it sits comfortably with Gisborne's Mary-Anne Baty this morning. Yesterday Baty completed a remarkable three weeks by being named alongside Joel Henare in the CP Wool Shearing Sports New Zealand Woolhandling team to compete at the 2017 World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Invercargill in February. Baty had to rely on a strong finish in the final qualifier of the six-e...

Baty and Henare for World Champs

It may have been a day late but it didn't matter to Gisborne woolhandler Maryanne Baty today as she gained a dramatic selection in the CP Wool Shearing Sports New Zealand team for the 2017 World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Invercargill. Baty turned 31 yesterday (Wednesday) and celebrated today at the Canterbury Show in Christchurch by being runner-up in the top-three final of a selection series of true survival and which started 10 months ago in Southland. She joins fellow Gisbo...

LIVE - NZ Worlds Team Selection Event

Join us for live update from the Canterbury A&P Show as New Zealand's best wool-handlers (Thursday) and shearers (Friday) go head-to-head for the two New Zealand World Champs selection spots in each discipline. Updates will appear automatically below - there is no need to refresh the page....

Pressure on for World Champs selection

Anticipation is building ahead of the final selection event for the New Zealand team to compete at the 2017 World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Invercargill in February. This Thursday and Friday, six machine shearers, six woolhandlers and three blade shearers will compete for the two New Zealand selection spots available in each discipline. The gruelling selection process dates back 10 months with the final six competitors being determined by points accrued across six selectio...

Cup Week Drama - in the Shearing Pavilion

Cup Week's multiple dramas in Christchurch have an added extra this week as some of the World's best shearers and woolhandlers battle for places in the New Zealand team for their 2017 World Championships in Invercargill. The extra drama will take place during the New Zealand Corriedale shearing and woolhandling championships at the Canterbury Show with the climax of two gruelling selection series' which started in Southland 10 months ago. Six shearers and six woolhandlers will contest the fin...

Entries open for World Champs' Curtain-raiser Event

Shearers and woolhandlers from throughout the country will have the chance to be part of the World Championships in Invercargill in February, with entries open for the Southland All Nations and Speed Shear events. The All Nations has been added to the World Championship programme to allow those not competing at the World Championships to be part of this historic event, as well as allow competitors to put the final touches on their World Champs preparation. 2017 World Shearing and Woolhandling ...

Message from NZ Prime Minister, John Key

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key welcomes you to the 2017 World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships...

Top Kiwi Entertainers set to light up World Shearing Champs

Two of New Zealand's finest musical performers will be rocking the boards at February's Golden Shears World Shearing and Wool-handling Championships in Invercargill. Celebrated New Zealand musician Jason Kerrison is returning to his home town to perform at the championships, which run from February 9-11 at ILT Stadium Southland, with Wanaka's country-rock starlet Jody Direen also set to light up the stage. Kerrison said he was excited at the prospect of playing the World Championships in his...

International Teams line up for World Shearing Champs 2017

The United States team is expecting fierce competition when it, along with up to thirty other teams, heads to New Zealand for the Golden Shears World Shearing and Wool Handling Championships in February. Eighteen teams are already confirmed for the event to be held in Invercargill at ILT Stadium Southland from February 9-11, including Mongolia, England, Switzerland, South Africa, and Japan. Organising committee chairman Tom Wilson said he was delighted with the number of teams entered to d...

Unique Kiwi experience awaits World Shearing Champs visitors

A uniquely Kiwi experience including retro caravans and barbecue breakfasts await visitors to Southland for the World Shearing and Wool Handling Championships in February. Southlanders are being asked to open their homes, caravans and maybe even tents to visitors heading south to catch the world's elite wool industry athletes in action in Invercargill in the far south of New Zealand for the three-day event. New Zealand is hosting the event from February 9-11 2017 at ILT Stadium Southland, ...

World Shearing Champs tickets now on sale

Tickets to the world's biggest shearing and wool handling extravaganza are now on sale, with organisers - the New Zealand Shearing Foundation - encouraging people to get in early to secure a seat. The world's elite wool industry athletes will converge on Invercargill in the far south of New Zealand in February for the Golden Shears World Shearing and Wool Handling Championships. New Zealand is hosting the event from February 9-11 2017 at ILT Stadium Southland, with competitors from more than ...

NZ Romneys ready to star at Golden Shears World Champs 2017

As the world's elite wool industry athletes gear up for the Golden Shears World Shearing and Wool Handling Championships in New Zealand in February, more than 2000 Romney sheep from one of the country's leading sheep breeders are also poised for action. Peters Romneys breeder Trevor Peters, of Millers Flat, said he was thrilled to be supplying 2300 of his prime stud stock to the championships, being held in Invercargill, in the far south of New Zealand. Their romneys were great all round s...

World’s best shearers and woolhandlers heading to Invercargill, New Zealand.

The world's elite wool industry athletes will converge in Invercargill in the far south of New Zealand in February for the Golden Shears World Shearing and Wool Handling Championships. New Zealand is hosting the event from February 9-11 2017 at ILT Stadium Southland, set to feature competitors from more than 30 countries. Five-time world champion shearer, recently knighted Shearing Sports New Zealand chairman Sir David Fagan, said people in Invercargill and across the whole Southland regio...

Major Events Fund Golden Shears World Championships $260,000 Investment "Vote of Confidence"

The Government's Major Events Fund investment of $260,000 for the Golden Shears World Shearing and Wool Handling Championships in 2017 is a vote of confidence in the Southland region. Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt said the investment for the February 9-11 event to be held at ILT Stadium Southland was a clear recognition the events industry was of enormous value to the country. "I think its fantastic that the Government is supporting us on this because it means that the events industry is...