| The 11th Scottish Blackface Shearing Championships - LOCHEARNHEAD SHEARS 2004 |
| The eleventh Scottish Blackface Shearing Championships took place over the weekend of the 3rd & 4th July 2004. The weather on the run up to the weekend was probably the worst in the history of this major competition, and continued in the same vain. Undeterred the crowds flocked into the marquee to watch the record number of 158 competitors ply their skills in the six levels of competition. The Junior, Intermediate and Senior heats took place on Saturday afternoon with the Wool-Handling competition taking place in the evening, where we saw the top four competing furiously looking after five fleeces each, throwing them on a table, wrapping them up and sweeping up the boards - all this at break neck speed. With the top place being secured by Alison McNeil from Castle Douglas, Ana Leira from New Zealand taking runner-up spot with Kirsty Donald from Edzell and Linda McWhirter from Kintyre taking 3rd and 4th place respectively. Sunday morning, although still raining the open contestants raised the spirits of the crowd as they competed for a place in the quarterfinal. From 60 competitors down to 20 it was going to be hard to make the cut, quality of workmanship and speed would be the order of the day. The competition progressed through the afternoon with all the semi finals, with competitors reckoning that this is one of the hardest competitions to make it into a final. The pace of the finals got faster as the evening progressed starting with the All Scottish Junior final where they shore five sheep in around 7 minutes with Richard Wood from Kingledores, Tweedsmuir coming out on top. Taking runner-up place was Ross MacIntosh from Blairgowrie, David Clark, Lesmahagow and Andrew Baillie, Larkhall taking 3rd and 4th places respectively. The traditional hand-shearing event saw past champion Tom McKellar from Bridge of Orchy regain the title which he lost last year, with Donald McCall from Fort William, Willie Shaw from Fife and Euan Cameron from Kinloch Rannoch taking 2nd, 3rd and 4th places. Next was the International relay, where teams of three from New Zealand, England, Scotland and Wales competed in what was a crowd thrilling event with supports from each of these nations cheering on their team. The experience of the Scotland team (Doug Lambie, John Lamb and Gavin Mutch) proved too much for the rest and left them clear winners. Another international line up in the Intermediate section where Welshman Delwyn Jones - last year's Junior Champion, having moved up a class, shore his seven sheep in 7 and a half minutes, to take the honours. With Scotsmen John Clark from Stranraer, Tom McKellar the Hand Shearing Champion and Simon Bedwell from Ross-shire taking second, third and fourth places. Following on from this was one of the highlights of the two days, the Scotland versus New Zealand test. Where we saw Johnny Kirkpatrick and Peter Chilcott battle it out against the Scotsmen, Hamish Mitchell and Allan Wright. This got the crowd off their seats, a very close fought contest with only half a point between the teams with Scotland being the victors. In the senior final, the pace moved up another gear where the finalists shore their 10 sheep in around 9 minutes. Ivan Scott from Donegal was to be a clear winner with a superb quality of workmanship taking first place 1 ½ points of Antony Rooke from Yorkshire, taking third spot was Chris Reid from Ayrshire and in fourth Ian Montgomery from Ballymena. After winning every major competition in Scotland this year, Hamish Mitchell was at peak performance and lined up in the open final along with Johnny Kirkpatrick, Tom Wilson and Gavin Mutch. The scene was set with four top shearers of the day about to shear 20 sheep each. The atmosphere was tense, the crowd went silent just prior to the start of this the finale of the day. From the word go, the race was on between Tom and Johnny - with the lead changing several times up until 18 sheep when Hamish came right back at them, and spurred on by the excited crowd, took the lead, keeping there until the final sheep, stopping the clock after 20 at 13 minutes 24 seconds some 14 seconds ahead of Johnny. This wasn't to be enough as Johnny's quality was slightly, better giving him the title for the first time at Lochearnhead and once again Hamish runner-up spot with past Champion Tom Wilson taking third place and new-comer to the final, Gavin Mutch taking fourth. The 11th Scottish Blackface Shearing Championships - Results LOCHEARNHEAD SHEARS 2004 INTERNATIONAL RELAY 1st SCOTLAND (Doug Lambie, John Lamb & Gavin Mutch) 2nd WALES (Nicky Beynon, Rhys Jones & Eryl Williams) 3rd ENGLAND (Craig Stone, Steven Capstick & Pete Smith) 4th NEW ZEALAND (Murray Johnstone, Willie Rhind & Nigel Brown) B.P. PIPELINES- SCOTLAND .V. NEW ZEALAND TEST 1ST SCOTLAND (Hamish Mitchell & Allan Wright) 88.43 2ND NEW ZEALAND (Johnny Kirkpatrick & Pete Chilcott) 88.98 R McLARTY & SON HAND SHEARS 1st Tom McKellar, 2nd Donald McCall, 3rd Willie Shaw, 4th Euan Cameron SCOTTISH WOOL GROWERS WOOL-HANDLING 1st Alison McNeil, 2nd Ana Leira, 3rd Kirsty Donald, 4th Linda McWhirter A B GAIRNS JUNIOR SHEARING 1st Richard Wood, Biggar 24.50 2nd Ross MacIntosh, Blairgowrie 27.87 3rd David Clark, Lesmahagow 29.00 4th Andrew Baillie, Larkhall 29.33 5th Angus Webster 6th Richard Lewis 7th Jim Thomson 8th Beau St George HIGHWAY SHEARING INTERMEDIATE SHEARING 1st Delwyn Jones, Ruthin 31.56 2nd John Clark, Stranraer 33.06 3rd Tom McKellar, Bridge of Orchy 34.15 4th Simon Bedwell, Ross-shire 36.25 5th John Buchanan 6th James MacDonald 7th Andrew Donald 8th Kevin Robinson REID AND ROBERTSON/DECTOMAX SENIOR SHEARING 1st Ivan Scott, Co Donegal 36.25 2nd Antony Rooke, Yorkshire 37.65 3rd Chris Reid, Turnberry 38.00 4th Ian Montgomery, Ballymena 38.60 5th Bedwyr Jones 6th Alan Longstaff 7th Ian Minto 8th Andy Mainland HEINIGER SCOTTISH BLACKFACE CHAMPIONSHIPS OPEN SHEARING 1st Johnny Kirkpatrick, New Zealand 49.00 2nd Hamish Mitchell, Lochearnhead 51.80 3rd Tom Wilson, Westruther 52.85 4th Gavin Mutch, Huntly 53.40 5th Eryl Williams 6th Allan Wright 7th Rhys Jones 8th Hefin Jones The Colin MacGregor Salver for the best pen in any final - Richard Wood |
|
|
|
Open Finalists |
