The shearing fraternity was out in force in Alexandra yesterday for the beginning of the two-day Merino Wool shearing championships.
Entries from all over New Zealand ensured a high quality of woolhandling and competitiveness.
The first day's events were devoted to the people who make the life of a shearer much easier - the woolhandlers.
The competition was stiff, with all the top names ready to defend their titles.
Heats through to semifinals were held right through the day yesterday.
Junior and senior woolhandlers were required to handle two merino fleeces in the heats and three fleeces in the semis.
Open woolhandlers had to deal with three fleeces in their semis.
Shearing begins in earnest at 8am today.
The senior shearing competition heats, with the top 12 shearers, will move through to the semifinals.
They will begin by shearing two sheep each in the heats, moving up to four sheep each in the finals.
The senior shearing will be followed by the open competitions, with Nathan Stratford, Tony Coster, Dion Morrell, James Fagan and Thursday night's speed-shearing winner Cam Ferguson ensuring some excellent competition.
The top four in each of the junior and senior woolhandling will contest the finals this afternoon.
The senior and open shearing, and the teams and open woolhandling finals, will be held tonight.
Shearers from throughout New Zealand displayed top form at the inaugural Central Otago Speed Shears at the Criterion Hotel in Alexandra on Thursday.
Hawkes Bay shearer Cam Ferguson won $1500 for taking the open section title, with a tidy shear of 27 seconds.
Organiser Dion Morrell, of Alexandra, said Ferguson was a favourite to win the competition, which finished about 11.30pm on Thursday.
"Cam is one of the best young shearers in New Zealand at the moment. He was two seconds faster than the second-place-getter, which in speed shearing is like the length of a football field," he said.
Mataura brothers Phil and Maaka Rangiwai battled it out for first and second place in the senior section, after both made clean shears in 34 seconds.
Phil won the title by a quarter of a second, and won $400 as well as some shearing equipment.
Mr Morrell said each of the 50-odd competitors throughout the competition had to shear a half-bred ewe, and do it well.
"They have to fall under a certain benchmark, so the shears have to be of good quality for the time to be valid," he said.
Once each shearer had shorn their ewe, the top five competitors in each section advanced through to a final round, which determined places.
A team section was also included in the event.
