Twenty-five shearers will participate in a 32-hour shearathon for charity, with four endeavouring to each shear for 24 hours. File photo
Up to 10,000 lambs will shorn over 32 hours in a West Otago woolshed next week, raising money for the Southland Charity Hospital.
Four southern shearers Eru Weeds, Cole Wells, David Gower and Braden Clifford will each shear for 24 hours over a 32-hour period, including breaks, while 21 other shearers will share runs of between two and eight hours on the remaining three stands.
Event manager Jared Manihera, from PGG Wrightson Wool, says the shearathon starts at 6am on Saturday, February 5 and will finish at 2pm the next day.
It will be split over 12 two-hour runs, with either 30-minute or one-hour breaks.
Nelson and Fiona Hancox will supply the stock, which will be shorn on their Wohelo Station property at Moa Flat.
The four aiming to complete the long haul have been preparing by following strict diets and fitness regimes.
“The hardest time will be midnight when their bodies will want to give up, but the minds will need to take over to keep them going,” Manihera said.
Due a tightening in covid restrictions, the event will not be open to the public, with a limit of 100 volunteers and workers who must have a vaccine pass.
The event will be livestreamed at livestream.com/accounts72885/shear4blair
Manihera says the 24-hour shearers will be shearing replacement ewe lambs without belly wool, while the others will tackle a combination of full shear wethers and fully crutched ewe lambs without bellies.
He estimates that potentially $100,000 could be raised based on the product and cash donated so far.
The final total depends on the final number of lambs shorn.
The Southland Charity was established in Invercargill in 2019, a legacy of local farmer and cancer victim Blair Vining who, frustrated at the poor cancer treatment for regional people, devoted his last few months of life to improving services.
