Local women smash world shearing records

Birdtalk Magazine February & March 2024
SACHA BOND
Piopio shearer Sacha Bond ended 2023 on a high note, breaking the world women’s nine-hour strong wool lamb shearing record at the end of December.

She shore more than 700kg of wool and 720 strong wool lambs at Centre Hill Station near Mossburn, breaking the previous record of 661 shorn in January 2021 by Megan Whitehead.

After starting her run at 5am, she had three breaks throughout the day but sailed through with the world record.

Family and friends who were there said it was incredible to see how she maintained her stamina throughout the entire process. Sacha said she trained intensely for the event, doing workouts a personal trainer from the UK sent her.

Next up for Sacha is the ewes record of 452 in February, where she attempts to become the first female to hold the solo record for nine hours on both lambs and ewes. Good luck Sacha!

CATHERINE MULLOOLY
Another Piopio shearer and one of New Zealand's most successful female competition shearers, Catherine Mullooly, has set the new solo women’s eight-hours strongwool ewes record of 465, as well as passing the women’s nine-hour record of 452 in the last quarter hour. in what Shearing New Zealand said was one of records-shearing’s most stunning displays. Catherine smashed the World shearing record by almost 10 sheep an hour. She had a quality rating of 10.4, well within the threshold set by the World Sheep Shearing Records Society, and considered by most onlookers as “amazing” considering the struggle with “stroppy” sheep during the day. The previous record was 386.

Starting at 7am, Mullooly shore successive two-hour, above-record-pace runs of 116, 117 and 116 before passing the target about 3.40pm and magic-number 400 soon afterwards, with still over an hour to go to the finish at 5pm.

She had a big team of supporters, including timekeepers and now fellow record-breakers Coel L’Huillier and Daniel Langlands, another record-holder in Kaleb Foote monitoring the gear, and farmers Hamish Nelson and Bridget St George, along with support from father Myles Mullooly and partner Audrey Tamanui-Nunn, and her own partner, Ardy Donnelly and sons Brynn, 3, and Coel, 1.

There was also a team of woolhandlers and others helping with her physical well being during the day.
Congratulations Catherine!