Shearer adds new title to his resume

Central Otago shearer Leon Samuels has added another national title to his impressive resume.

The New Zealand Merino Shearing and Woolhandling Championships open shearing final on Saturday night presented a stacked lineup of industry elite including former teams world champion and three-time Merino Shears winner Nathan Stratford, world record-holder Stacey Te Huia and national open full wool shearing champion Brett "Kornie" Roberts.

Open Shearing winner Leon Samuels competes in the teams event at the New Zealand Merino Shearing and Woolhandling Championships. PHOTOS: SHANNON THOMSON

But it was Samuels who came out on top.

The win cemented his place in the New Zealand transtasman team, and adds to his growing list of national titles — in April he became the first South Island shearer to win the New Zealand Shears open title in three decades.

Harrison Lilley, 8, of Australia, takes part in the Teddy Bear Shear on Saturday.

Shearing is in the blood for Samuels — both parents were in the industry — and he had been around it since he was born, he said.

While he has been shearing for more than 25 years, he has only been competing for the past four or five years.

"I think [shearing is] just a real good buzz," he said.

"Quietly I’m a competitive person, I like competing with other people — I try not to show it but there’s a competitiveness ...

"I don’t know what it is about the shearing industry but it’s a passion of mine now, I just love it."

Woolhandling judges (from left) Linda Tarrant, Janet Smith and Ken Gillespie check for faults left in the fleece after the senior woolhandling final on Saturday.

A passion for the industry is something Australia-based New Zealand shearing legend Samson Te Whata is imparting in to the next generation of young Australian shearers and woolhandlers.

For the second time, Te Whata lead an Australian Regional Enterprise Development Institute First Nation indigenous contingent to Alexandra for the Merino Shears.

He hoped the experience the team gained would benefit the industry back home.

Spectators watch the junior woolhandling final on Saturday.

"The wool harvested here [in Central Otago], the people are attentive to detail in a natural way ... if we can capture this and take some of the skills in amongst our people with our children here now that can only be good for us for our clip in Australia."

After winning the open woolhandling title South Otago woolhandler Tia Potae is set to join Samuels in the New Zealand transtasman team.

shannon.thomson@odt.co.nz