$40m ‘shearing shed’ for the best
The World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships are under way in Invercargill, with about 600 spectators on hand to see the start of the competition.
ILT Stadium Southland has been transformed into a $40 million shearing shed, with 4500 sheep set to be shorn from Wednesday to tomorrow.
Events include the All Nations Blade Shearing and the All Nations Senior Shearing and Senior Woolhandling competitions.
The tournament, which is the first of its kind in Invercargill, is expected to bring thousands of spectators through the gates.
Organisers are expecting upwards of 3000 people for the shearing finals tomorrow night.
ILT Stadium Southland general manager Nigel Skelt said the scope of the event was not only unpre- cedented for Southland, but for the shearing world as well.
World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships committee chairman Tom Wilson said the stadium was the ‘‘best facility we’ve ever had’’.
‘‘There’s no comparison to any- thing else we’ve had since the world championships started in 1977.’’
Wilson said the previous world champs, in Knockmullen in Ireland in 2014, was held ‘‘more or less in a circus marquee’’.
As well as the competition itself, the 2017 edition of the event is also hosting a trade expo to help promote the wool industry.
About 200 children from Invercargill were present to get a first-hand education on the intricacies of sheep shearing, with a demonstration from shearer James Fagan just outside the stadium.
The children got a close-up look at the process, including when one of the six-month-old lambs made a brief dash for freedom into the Stadium Southland foyer.
To bring the event to the stadium, $380,000 worth of funding was needed to cover the running costs (excluding commercial sponsors). — Fairfax NZ