Fastest female shearer-world record set by
Emily Welch
[Nov 27]WELLINGTON,New Zealand--Emily Welch, 27, has broken the
official women's world record for shearing the most lambs in nine
hours: 541 sheep.
Expert judges made sure there were no short cuts
in the shearing, and in a country where 40 million sheep outnumber
the humans by 10-to-1, it was a major item on the TV evening news
bulletins.
Emily Welch has been training for the high-endurance
record attempt for six months. She has been shearing professionally
for six years and is the only female shearer in her gang, but has
a rising profile on the competition shearing circuit.
The record was previously held by another New Zealander,
Jills Angus Burney, who set the mark in 1989 in Bennydale. She says
participating in an attempt like this is as exhausting as running
a marathon.
Twenty-seven year-old Emily was taught by her
father Philip Woodward, a local shearing legend. Emily has been
shearing professionally for six years.
She is the only female shearer in her gang. Emily
competes alongside men around the show circuit throughout the North
Island and more recently Australia.
Emily Welch gained second place in the senior
grade at this year's Golden Shears at Masterton, and sixth at the
New Zealand championships in Te Kuiti. Her most recent show was
Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia where she controversially placed
second in the seniors.
Welch, who began her bid at Waikaretu, south
of Auckland, at 5 am, celebrated by having a sleep, TV3 said. Presumably,
she did not need to count them.