Shearing has seen one of its more popular wins with Wanganui gun Jerome McCrea beating World champion Paul Avery on the champion’s home stage in Stratford.
A serious knee injury once had 35-year-old McCrea thinking his shearing was over for good, and he hadn’t won a title in eight years until his triumph in an 18-sheep final at the Stratford A and P Show on Saturday, but now he’s after the big one – the next World championships in Wales next July.
“That’s the lure,” he said. “Everyone’s going for it.”
Re-entering the competition scene only last January, the journey really started when after less than two months he qualified for the six-man Golden Shears open final in Masterton, sharing the drama of the comeback 16th win by King Country icon David Fagan, at the age of 47. McCrea had reached the final in his last season of shearing in 2002, when his abilities as a shearer were almost concealed by his image as a monster biker, on his beloved Harley Davidson.
Once over 100kg, but having been fit enough to become one of Wanganui’s top rugby referees, he’s been in the gym and is down to 91kg, but reckons there’s more to come-off yet.
“After the Golden Shears I decided to get into-it, and lose a bit of weight,” he said. “Life’s not much fun if you’re overweight.”
His two Golden Shears finals are the highlights of his career, especially the big night 10 months ago.
Avery, who had won his home event more times than he could remember, incurred significiant penalties for a cut about two-thirds of the way through the contest, watched by a crowd tightly packed under cover as rain disrupted much of the rest of the show, but in the end-result it didn’t matter.
“Jerome had a blitzer,” said the 42-year-old Avery after what was the last event on the Shearing Sports New Zealand calendar before Christmas.
It leaves a six-week break until his defence of the national lambshearing title at Raglan when the competition season resumes on January 9, but Avery will be looking for as much shearing as possible to get ready for his own bid for a chance to defend his World title, with the race for New Zealand’s two positions now shaping as the keenest since the first world shearing championships were held 32 years ago.
Press Release: Shearing Sports New Zealand