Fife shearer takes home red sash

Shearers and fans of the sport flocked to Lochearnhead for the annual Scottish Blackface Shearing Championships.

Adding to his first Royal Highland Show open win was Calum Shaw, from Fife, who raced for the fastest time with fellow Scot Hamish Mitchell, finishing only a second apart.

With better scores on the board, for technique, and in the pen, for the number of nicks and cuts on the sheep, Calum won the red sash with a combined score of 56.800.

The New Zealand versus Scotland test match gave the home crowd plenty to celebrate when Calum and Hamish edged the lead with 107.960 points compared to New Zealand’s Rowland Smith and Johnny Kirkpatrick who picked up 108.995.

Despite a strong show from the three Scots in the blade (hand shearing) final, it was a Welshman that secured first place in both time and points. Rheinally Hughes picked up a total of 73.700, while Willie Craig came in second with 75.050, Mark Armstrong was third with 82.200, and Wilson Wylie was fourth with 82.200.

The Scots were back on top form when Willie and Wilson won the Scotland versus Wales blade test against Rheinallt Hughes and Elfed Jackson. Scotland finished with a score of 155.500 against Wales’ 159.550.

Young Joe Boylan not only won the intermediate section with a score of 45.450, but also the coveted Colin MacGregor Salver and a Heiniger handpiece for having the best pen score in any final.

Another to continue her winning form from the RHS was Leanne Bertram who won first place in the wool handling competition with 46.200.

Robert McKellar was deemed best local on the day.