SHEARING
Four Wairarapa competitors have been named in the national shearing team.
Eketahuna’s Ngaio Hanson is one of two woolhandlers for the world championships at the Royal Highland Show in Scotland on June 22-25. Hanson earned selection after finishing second in a selection series final at Golden Shears in Masterton in March.
Paerata Abraham and brother-in-law David Gordon are the New Zealand shearing team for a series of six tests in Britain, starting with Scotland at the Lochearnhead Shears on July 1.
That test will be followed by one test against England at the Great Yorkshire Show on July 12, and four tests against Wales between July 21 and July 29 at the Cothi Shears, Lampeter Shears, Royal Welsh Show, and Corwen Shears.
Abraham claimed his place by winning the national shears circuit final at Te Kuiti on April 1.
Gordon won his place as sixth place-getter in the national shears open final, with the five other finalists unable to make the extended trip or, in one case, ineligible for New Zealand team selection.
Gordon won the senior final at Lochearnhead in 2019, and Abraham has represented New Zealand in home-and-away trans-Tasman tests against Australia in 2019-2020 after winning the national circuit final at the Golden Shears.
Cushla Abraham – Paerata’s wife and David’s sister – retained her place in the New Zealand woolhandling team for next summer’s trans-asman tests by winning the North Island woolhandling circuit open final at the Golden Shears.
