Cheered on by a strong crowd in the MacRobert Pavillion, Calum Shaw did the double to win both the Scottish National and Open shearing competitions at the Royal Highland Show for the second time.
The pace was fast and furious in the six-man final as the 20 Cheviot hoggs were clipped in an average of 49 seconds. Skye native but now Lochearnhead local Hamish Mitchell set that pace to pop his first down the bobhole in under 40 seconds and was a sheep ahead of the others going in for his 12th, pulling the cord in the fastest time of 15 minutes and 40 seconds.
Even though he stopped the clock 33 seconds later, Fife’s Calum Shaw kept the quality clean throughout and with the lowest pen mark of 140 and second-lowest board mark of 20, secured first place and the Lawson Salver with a total of 56.650. Finishing on top of the 39 shearers entered in this section, this marked a third open win at the Highland for Calum, having also won in 2017 and 2018.
It was a close call for second place as New Zealander who now stays in England, Matt Smith, and Hamish Mitchell tied on 58.700, but the lower board and pen marks of 37 and 183 saw Matt slip into second while Hamish was third having notched up 27 and 207.
With three Scots, an Englishman, Irishman and Northern Irishman in the open final, Ireland’s Dennis O’Sullivan was fourth with 59.200 ahead of Northern Ireland’s Jack Robinson on 59.600 while Borders shearer Stuart Robson was sixth with 64.400.
If you thought the open final was fast then the National final set the stage alight earlier in the day with any of the six finalists leading the pace in the early stages. In fact, it was Cammy Wilson who popped his number one down the chute first and there wasn’t much to split the shearers as they hit the halfway point in the 20 Blackie hoggs.
It was Hamish who edged a half-sheep lead with five to go but Calum soon caught up and they pulled number 20 out on the board at the same time. Top qualifier from the semi-finals, Calum must have saved the best until last to hit the button on 15 minutes 55, with Hamish just three seconds later. As ever, Calum kept the job clean and landed the lowest board and pen marks of 23 and 186 to claim his sixth National title with 58.200, securing his place in the Scottish team.
With 29 and 205 on the board and in the pen, Hamish was second with 59.600 while Scott Wilson was third with 33, 252 and 64.800. In fourth was Andy Baillie while Stuart Robson, who headed up the senior section the day before was fifth, and Cammy Wilson was sixth.
Home nations featured strongly in the blade final with three from Northern Ireland, one from Wales, one from England and a Scot, and with well-known moccasins to fill it was England’s Andrew Mudge who claimed the top spot with a total of 79.800, having clipped his five hoggs in one of the fastest times of 15 minutes 44 seconds.
The time advantage proved crucial here as he picked up 22 on the board and 141 in the pen compared to second-placed James Hopkins who had four and 130 combined with one of the slower times of 18 minutes 15 seconds to give a total score of 81.550.
Fellow Northern Irishman, Noel Joyce, finished a second quicker and with 17 on the board and 123 in the pen totalled 82.700 to claimed third.
Scotland’s Jimmy Wright was fourth with 87.850, former winner Elfed Jackson was fifth on 88.800, and Martin Hopkins was sixth with 98.400. Heading up the intermediates was Luke Magee while Mitchell McGillvray won the juniors and Emily Te Kapa led the inaugural ladies competition.
Welsh wool handler Beca Jackson won the open section with Audrey Aiken in second and Kayleigh Anderson in third.
Leading Awards
Open (20 hoggs) – 1, Calum Shaw (16 minutes 13 seconds, 20 board mark, 140 pen mark, 56.650 total); 2, Matt Smith (15.54, 37, 183, 58.700); 3, Hamish Mitchell (15.40, 27, 207, 58.700); 4, Dennis O’Sullivan (16.40, 17, 167, 59.200); 5, Jack Robinson (16.44, 23, 165, 59.600); 6, Stuart Robson (16.52, 27, 249, 64.400).
Scottish National (20) – 1, Calum Shaw (15.55, 23, 186, 58.200); 2, Hamish Mitchell (15.58, 29, 205, 59.600); 3, Scott Wilson (16.51, 33, 252, 64.800); 4, Andrew Baillie (16.40, 54, 248, 65.100); 5, Stuart Robson (16.10, 49, 352, 68.550); 6, Cammy Wilson (16.57, 66, 449, 76.600).
Open blade (five) – 1, Andrew Mudge (15.44, 22, 141, 79.800); 2, James Hopkins (18.15, 4, 130, 81.550); 3, Noel Joyce (18.14, 17, 123, 82.700); 4, Jimmy Wright (17.53, 10, 161, 87.850); 5, Elfed Jackson (14.48, 12, 210, 88.800); 6, Martin Hopkins (18.56, 4, 204, 98.400).
Six Nations blade test (four) – 1, England’s Andrew Mudge (11.03, 9, 149, 72.650) and George Mudge (15.42, 13, 109, 77.600) with 150.250; 2, Wales’ Elfed Jackson (11.14, 13, 153, 75.200) and Rhydian Evans (15.46, 9, 140, 84.550) with 159.750; 3, Scotland’s Willia Craig (15.28, 9, 119, 78.400) and Jimmy Wright (12.27, 12, 192, 88.350) with 166.750; 4, Ireland’s James Hopkins (17.29, 2, 119, 82.700) and Noel Joyce (15.42, 9, 147, 86.100) with 168.800; 5, Northern Ireland’s Sam Mconnell (17.04, 4, 127, 83.950) and Chris Coulter (17.18, 9, 184, 100.150) with 184.100).
Open development test (15) – 1, Scotland’s Stuart Davidson (13.20, 25, 190, 54.334) and Scott Wilson (13.50, 50, 315, 65.833) with 120.17; 2, Wales’ Ilan Jones (14.31, 43, 243, 62.617) and Llyr Jones (13.21, 52, 338, 66.050) with 128.67; 3, England’s Stuart Pullin (14.35, 48, 250, 63.617) and Adam Stockdale (15.14, 51, 258, 66.300) with 129.92.
Senior (10) – 1, Stuart Robson (8.53, 7, 144, 41.750); 2, Sam Jones (11.33, 19, 107, 41.750); 3, Jack France (11.39, 18, 177, 54.450); 4, Kevin Sutherland (10.33, 29, 206, 55.150); 5, James Wilson (11.18, 11, 215, 56.500); 6, Luke Magee (11.19, 16, 166 + 5, 57.150).
Intermediate (six) – 1, Luke Magee (7.52, 6, 26, 28.933); 2, Pat Corrigan (7.59, 12, 41, 32.783); 3, Duncan Adams (9.05, 5, 35, 33.916); 4, David Andrew (7.56, 16, 54, 35.467); 5, William Taylor (6.44, 24, 86, 38.533); 6, Christoper Begley (8.29, 15, 80, 41.283).
Junior (four) – 1, Mitchell McGillvray (5.35, 8, 23, 24.500); 2, Cameron Armstrong (5.00, 18, 33, 27.750); 3, Sam McGuigan (6.10, 15, 23, 28.00); 4, Dean Laughlin (6.09, 12, 30, 28.950); 5, Allister Crawford (7.39, 4, 27, 30.700); 6, Ewan Cochrane (7.19, 25, 40, 38.200).
Ladies Machine (four) – 1, Emily Te Kapa (5.38, 13, 39, 29.900); 2, Kate Donald (6.03, 6, 63, 35.400); 3, Alice Watson (6.33, 10, 68, 39.150); 4, Chloe Cormack (9.12, 20, 63, 48.350); 5, Beca Jackson (8.06, 31, 81, 52.300).
Open Wool Handling – 1, Beca Jackson (1 minute 10 seconds, 27 board mark, 37 table mark, 72.000 total); 2, Audrey Aiken (1.26, 28, 52, 91.200); 3, Kayleigh Andrew (1.10, 45, 50, 91.200).
Novice Wool Handling – 1, Rachel Urquhart (1.18, 12, 31, 52.600); 2, Amy McNeil (1.42, 23, 40, 77.400); 3, Beth Logan (1.18, 22, 48, 79.600).
Wool Handling Development Test – 1, Scotland (0.35, 30, 71, 104.500); 2, Wales (0.51, 32, 72, 109.100); 3, England (0.50, 40, 81, 126.00).
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