The England Sheep Shearing team returned home from Norway last week with heads held high after a tremendous performance at the Golden Shears World Shearing Championships.
29 countries took part in the World Championships which were held in Bjerkriem, Norway from 2 – 5 October 2008. The England team qualified to represent their country by competing on the English circuit and finishing top of their respective disciplines – machine shearing, blade shearing and wool handling.
Stephen Capstick from Cumbria recently crowned English Champion for the third time, finished fourth in the individual machine final just 0.85 penalty points behind his Northern Ireland counterpart and 1.55 penalty points ahead of the closest Scottish competitor.
Stephen Capstick and Steven Lloyd, England’s top machine shearers finished second in the team competitions, beaten only by New Zealand by a margin of 2.15 penalty points and ahead of Wales by 2.75 penalty points.
The English circuit comprises Devon County Show, Royal Bath & West Show, Royal Cornwall Show, Three Counties Show, Great Yorkshire Show, Lakeland Shears, Northumberland County Shears and Romney Shears. Points collated throughout the circuit put the top shearers through to the English Shearer of the Year Award finals. The winner and runner up of each discipline qualified to represent England.
The English champion is selected by winning the English National competition within the shearing competitions at the Royal Bath & West Show and this shearer automatically qualifies to represent England.
Father and son team, George and Andrew Mudge, from Devon, finished fourth in the blade shearing team final, a phenomenal triumph. George commented before he went to Norway that England were outsiders and no-one would expect the England team to win.
George Mudge, 61, who owns a small beef and sheep farm on the edge of Dartmoor and runs a UK and overseas shearing supplies business, qualified to shear in the individual blade final. George was the only blade shearer from the northern hemisphere to qualify for the final where he faced the younger and vastly practiced world class blade shearers. A determined George took 12 mins and 45 seconds after the other finalists had finished, to finish shearing his sheep for which he received a standing ovation.
Our English shearers will compete on the English circuit again in 2009 to qualify for the next Golden Shears competition in 2010 which will be held at the Royal Welsh Show.
The England Team is sponsored by:
Travelling Expenses: Devon County Show, Royal Bath & West Show, Royal Cornwall Show, Three Counties Show, Great Yorkshire Show, Lakeland Shears, Northumberland County Shears and Romney Shears.
Official Team Clothing (Blazers): Shearwell Data Ltd, Minehead, Somerset.
Official Team Clothing (Sweatshirts): George Mudge & Co., Tavistock, Devon.
The English Shearer of the Year Award is sponsored by:
Prizes and Equipment (Machine Shearers): Lister Shearing, Dursley, Glos.
Prize Money (Machine Shearers): Zintec Feed Supplements, Shobdon, Herefordshire.
Prize Money (Blade and Woolhandling): Brinton Carpets, Kidderminster, Worcestershire.
The England team is:
Stephen Capstick, 34, Whicham – Contract Shearer. England Champion 3 times, English Shearer of the Year 4 times. Represented England 3 times.
Steven Lloyd, 47, Hereford – Contract Shearer. England Champion 18 times.
George Mudge, 61, Tavistock – Farmer/Business Owner – Represented England 5 times (blade) and twice (machine).
Andrew Mudge, 28, Tavistock – Farmer/Business Partner – Competing as blade shearer for 4 years and machine shearing for 8 years.
Hilary Bond, 27, Bovey Tracey – Farmer. Competing in woolhandling competitions for 5 years, represented England 3 times.
Kelly Mudge, 27, Tavistock – Works from home and full time mum. Represented England in Woolhandling twice.
(Statistics include the 2008 World Championships).
