Shear Talent Smashes World Record
28 Nov 2007
A 27 year old New Zealand woman has smashed the women's world record for shearing sheep.
Emily Welch has shorn 648 lambs in nine hours - beating the existing women's shearing record by more than a hundred.
The 27 year old from Waikaretu, just south of Auckland, was shearing at a rate of 70 lambs each hour.
It's been 18 years since an attempt on the world record has been made. The past record holder was another Kiwi, Jillian Burney. A team of judges monitored quality and recorded the count.
Welch has been training for the high endurance record attempt for six months, and is the only female shearer in her gang.
She says she was encouraged by her father, Phillip Woodward, to take up shearing, while her husband Sam, is also a professional shearer.
Welch attributed a lot of her success to the support of her husband. "I don't think I would have made it so far without his support. . . he and dad were pretty happy".
She's told reporters it's a hard slog for a woman climbing the shearing ladder. "It's very hard work, it’s very physical and you have to be determined to stick at it."
|
