A date for New Zealand to host an international shearing and woolhandling championship, the world's most prestigious sheep shearing event, has been set. The Golden Shears World Shearing and Woolhandling event is scheduled for the 4th-7thMarch 2026 and being hosted back at the home of the Golden Shears – Masterton in the North Island.
Golden Shears showcases the art, skill and techniques it takes to be a world champion. The international event is held every 2-4 years. New Zealand has hosted the event five times since 1977 when the first world championships were held in England. The last time our country hosted the event was in 2017 in Invercargill.
Kerry Irvine, a Tapawera farmer and key organiser for the Tapawera shears and speed shear, says “It’s great for our country to host it. Many will travel from all over New Zealand to compete in the events which range from novice to senior shearing and woolhandling and open-class events.”
The event scheduled to be held in 2026 will mark the 20thGolden Shears event. “I think it’s fitting to have to have the 20thevent celebrated and hosted in Masterton where it all began.” Smiles Kerry.
Prior to the event being an international event, The Golden Shears was founded in Masterton, New Zealand, and while the World competition is held every 2-4 years Masterton hosts an annual national event which has been held in the town's War Memorial Stadium each March since 1961, with the acceptation of Covid restrictions which saw the event cancelled for both 2021 and 2022.
The competition includes the Open championship, which is the most revered of all single shearing titles worldwide. The final is sometimes referred to as the shearing's equivalent of the Wimbledon Open in tennis, six shearers each shear 20 second-shear sheep, for which the fastest time was 15min 27.4sec, shorn in 2003. But the competition is about more than just the fastest time, and the winner is decided on time and quality penalty points, the winner being the shearer with the lowest score.
Recently Scotland hosted the world event in a purpose built faciality and saw over 380 competitors and 78 woolhandlers from over 30 different countries attend the four-day competition. This included 18 New Zealand competitors.
“It will be a big event,” says Kerry “There are individuals who enter and then teams going for titles in events such as machine shearing, blade shearing and woolhandling. There are lots of people out there who don’t shear but enjoy watching the sport. 2026 sounds like a long way away but given that we are past the halfway mark for this year I’d say it will come around quicker than we think – better save the date!”
