New Zealand shearer Matt Smith smashes shearing record in UK 27 Jul 2016
Related articles
- Niki Roderick Extends Depth To New Zealand Record Sport
- NZ More Interested in All Whites than All Blacks Sport
- All Whites claim historic point Sport
- Prime Minister to travel to South Africa News
- New Zealand-Russia begin FTA scoping discussions News
- NZ looking at all avenues on whaling issue News
- Snow on The Remarkables Living
- Team Selected for Ultimate Ride Jet-ski Sport
- Trubridge Triumphs With Unassisted Freedive Record Sport
- New Zealand 2011 Business Club launched Business
MEDIA RELEASE
From Doug Laing, media officer, Shearing Sports New Zealand
July 27, 2016
New Zealand shearer Matt Smith smashes shearing record in UK
New Zealand shearer Matt Smith has this morning in England smashed the World solo nine-hours ewe shearing record with a new tally of 731 in the first World shearing record ever attempted in the Northern Hemisphere.
The previous record of 721 had stood for more than nine years since being shorn by Hawke’s Bay gun Rodney Sutton in a King Country woolshed in January 2007.
Smith, 32, grew-up around Ruawai in Northland and had also been based in Hawke’s Bay before settling in England with wife Pippa whom he married in 2014 St Clever Parish Church, near where the record took place at Trefranck Farm.
He had been a regular shearing in the Northern Hemisphere since the age of 17 and, having shorn an eight-hour record of 578 in Hawke’s Bay in 2010 long set his sights on a record attempt in the UK where he settled on a flock of Romney and crossbreds which would meet the requirements of the World Sheep Shearing Records Society.
The all-clear for the record was given only in the standard day-before wool-weigh in which 10 sample sheep shorn before the three judges, from New Zealand, Australia, and Wales, met the standard of an average of more than 3kg of wool per ewe.
The shearing started at 5am and finished at 5pm, a standard woolshed day including hour-long breaks for breakfast and lunch, and a half-hour each for morning and afternoon tea.
With brother, World Champion and multiple Golden Shears and New Zealand champion Rowland Smith among the sizeable contingent of helpers, and needing an average of at under 44.9 seconds a sheep caught, shorn and dispatch, Smith was immediately ahead of the pace with 164 in the first two hours to breakfast.
It was three more than the previous two-hour run record of 161 shorn by Southland shearer Darin Forde when he shore a record of 720 in 1997, and three more than when Sutton struggled through the first two hours of his record10 years later.
Smith then shore successive 1hr 45min runs of 142, 142 and 141, and needing just 133 in the final 105 minutes still came home powerfully with a last-run 142, setting the new record with 7 and a half minutes to go.
He wasn’t immediately available to comment as he was overwhelmed by the handshakes and embraces, but he had been preparing a long time, having initially planned to attempt the record a year ago.
Pippa Smith said her husband had been on a strict diet since returning from a stint shearing in New Zealand in mid-January.
“No coffee, no beer,” she said. “He had a low carb diet just because his body functions better. Heaps of fish, chicken and venison, and veges. He had plenty of fluids on board too”
She said he had been doing big days and taking work wherever he could, but trained separately three days a week, and he had taken time-out to shear in competition, when he won the Royal Ulster Show All-Nations final at Balmoral, Belfast, in May.
Conditions in the area were ideal, cloudy with temperatures up to about 19deg, but still enough to test the physical endurance.
Monitored tests during one merino shearing record in Australia in 2005 showed a shearer losing a litre of fluid an hour and 4kg in body mass during a day in which temperatures hit 30deg.
Comparing the records:
Old Record - Rodney Sutton (King Country, NZ, Jan 31, 2007): First run (5-7am) 158; Second run (8-9.45am) 140; Third run (10.15-Noon) 142; Fourth run (1-2.45pm) 140; Fifth run (3.15-5pm) 141. Total for 9 hours: 721. Average per sheep: 44.94 seconds. Average per hour: 80.11 sheep.
New record - Matt Smith (Cornwall, Eng, July 26, 2016): First run (5-7am) 164; Second run (8-9.45am) 142; Third run (10.15-Noon) 142. Fourth run (1-2.45pm) 141; Fifth run (3.15-5pm) 142. Total for 9 hours: 731. Average per sheep: 44.32 seconds. Average per hour: 81.22 sheep.
ENDS
News
Hilary Timmins' Award-Winning UK Documentary Series To Inspire NZ Students
29 Jun 2020 Education
Dream Catchers, produced and directed by Hilary Timmins, celebrates the success stories of more than thirty inspirational New... more
New Zealand reaffirms support for Flight MH17 judicial process
7 Mar 2020 News
Ahead of the start of the criminal trial in the Netherlands on 9 March, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has reaffirmed the need to... more
Business
NZ Government's Economic package to fight COVID-19
17 Mar 2020 Business News
The Coalition Government has launched the most significant peace-time economic plan in modern New Zealand history to cushion the... more
NZ Government announces aviation relief package
19 Mar 2020 Business News
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today outlined the first tranche of the $600 million aviation sector relief package announced earlier... more
Living
Diversity was Key at New Zealand Trade Tasting in London
6 Jun 2022 Food & Wine
New Zealand Winegrowers Annual Trade Tasting was recently held in London, on Wednesday 4 May, in Lindley Hall.
It was the first... more
Kiwi author stuns Behind the Butterfly Gate
12 Jan 2022 Arts
Hidden behind the Butterfly Gate is where the secret has been kept for 76 years...
New Zealand writer Merryn Corcoran’s... more
Property
Fairer rules for tenants and landlords
17 Nov 2019 Property
17 NOVEMBER 2019
The Government has delivered on its promise to the over one million New Zealanders who now rent to make it fairer... more
New Zealand Government will not implement a Capital Gains Tax
17 Apr 2019 Property
The Coalition Government will not proceed with the Tax Working Group’s recommendation for a capital gains tax, Jacinda Ardern... more
Migration
Boosting border security with electronic travel authority – now over 500,000 issued
19 Nov 2019 Migration
19 NOVEMBER 2019
We’ve improved border security with the NZeTA, New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority, which helps us to... more
Christchurch reinstated as refugee settlement location
18 Aug 2018 Migration
18 AUGUST 2018
HON IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY
The announcement that Christchurch can once again be a settlement location for refugees... more
Travel
Gallipoli Anzac Day services cancelled
19 Mar 2020 Travel & Tourism
The New Zealand and Australian Governments have announced this year’s joint Anzac Day services at Gallipoli will be cancelled... more
New Zealanders advised not to travel overseas
19 Mar 2020 Travel & Tourism
New Zealanders advised not to travel overseas
more
Sport
The Skipper's Diary: Sir Richard Hadlee honouring his father and NZ's Forty-Niners
27 Oct 2019 Cricket
NZNewsUK London Editor Charlotte Everett spoke to Sir Richard Hadlee about why he’s chosen to publish his father’s... more
PREVIEW: All Blacks v England semi-final
26 Oct 2019 Rugby
The two most convincing quarterfinals winners are set to square off in a semifinal showdown for the ages when the All Blacks meet old... more
Columns
Gordon Campbell on the Gareth Morgan crusade
11 Nov 2016 Opinion
Gordon Campbell on the Gareth Morgan crusade
First published on Werewolf
The ghastly likes of Marine Le Pen in France and Geert ... more
Gordon Campbell on the US election outcome
10 Nov 2016 Opinion
Column - Gordon Campbell
Gordon Campbell on the US election outcome
Well um.. on the bright side, there (probably)... more
Kiwi Success
Congratulations to Loder Cup winner
26 Sep 2018 People
25 SEPTEMBER 2018
The Loder Cup, one of New Zealand’s oldest conservation awards, has been awarded to Robert McGowan for 2018... more
Appointments to New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO
16 Aug 2018 Appointments
16 AUGUST 2018Appointments to New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO
HON JENNY SALESA
Associate Education Minister Jenny Salesa is... more
Recruitment
Historic pay equity settlement for education support workers
14 Aug 2018 Recruitment
14 AUGUST 2018Historic pay equity settlement for education support workers
RT HON JACINDA ARDERN
HON CHRIS HIPKINS
Prime Minister
The... more
Historic pay equity settlement for education support workers
22 Aug 2018 Recruitment
14 AUGUST 2018Historic pay equity settlement for education support workers
RT HON JACINDA ARDERN
HON CHRIS HIPKINS
Prime Minister
The... more