SMASHED IT: Sacha Bond broke a world record for shearing at Fairlight Station in Southland last weekend. PHOTO SUPPLIED
Six hundred and one.
That’s 91 more sheep than Sacha Bond needed to shear for her women’s eight-hour strong wool world record at Fairlight Station at the southern end of Lake Wakatipu last Saturday.
The previous record was 510 set by Canadian shearer Pauline Bolay, however, Bond smashed it out of the pen with her efforts.
Bond averaged 150 sheep each two-hour time slot and although she sheared 607 sheep all-up, six were knocked off because they were not deemed to have been shorn correctly.
The 29-year-old was incredibly proud of herself and her team following the effort. “I looked out the back after I finished and everyone was like me, sweating a lot. I am stoked to have broken it.
“I was just really aiming to break it by one sheep; anything more than that was a bonus. I am very proud that I managed to shear more than I was aiming for.” Bond said she wanted to start strongly and managed to hold her form for the entire eight hours.
Shearing fast is not an easy feat and to do it accurately is also a challenge. “You can manage to do them both to an extent and I honestly don’t really know how I did, it just happened. It must have been all the training that I put in and it all came together on the day.”
She’s been eating healthy the entire year and on the day ate a wholesome food, which included plenty of chicken and lots of hydration.
“I hadn’t had sugary things for a whole year, so I had a few sugary items to help boost the energy throughout the day.”
The softly spoken shearer has been working hard for the past year to break this record.
“I had a personal trainer from the United Kingdom help me. He gave me a plan and just helped with my conditioning, cardio and wellbeing.”
Bond surpassed the previous record with more than an hour to spare. In setting her record three years ago, Bolay sheared successive two-hour tallies of 127, 125, 131 and 127 to beat, by three, the previous record of 507 shorn by King Country shearer Kerri-Jo Te Huia at Te Hape, near Bennydale, on January 10, 2012.
Judging convenor Peter Artridge and New Zealand panellists Robert McLaren, Alistair Emslie and North Island official Bart Hadfield gave the green light for the weekend’s record to go ahead after a Friday afternoon wool-weight.
The four runs from 7am to 9am, 9.30am to 11.30am, 12.30pm to 2.30pm and 3pm to 5pm represented the standard working day in a New Zealand woolshed. “It’s a very competitive industry but I love it. You can travel the world, make some great money and meet some amazing people”.
Bond, who learned her shearing skills in Australia, is looking at the possibility of a merino shearing record over there, however, they’re a more difficult sheep to shear.
A good crowd gathered all day to support Bond during the record attempt. Now that it’s over, Bond will be slipping back into her everyday life, being mum to her daughter, Ember, and shearing at a normal pace.
