Mundijong will once again welcome the fastest blades in the world this Saturday for the west’s largest open quick shear competition.
The second Mundijong Open Quick Shear promises to be bigger than the first, with 50 competitors expected from as far away as New Zealand and Wales.
To add even more gravitas, this year’s event will be MCed by AFL legend and sports commentator Karl Langdon.
As the final competition on the Western Australian quick shear circuit, and $15,000 up for grabs, the rivalry is reaching fever pitch.
Jack Fagan will be back to defend his title after taking out the inaugural event in a blistering 20.23 seconds. The world record holder’s name is well-known in the industry for his prolific haul of single-sheep speed shear titles, including the 2017 and 2019 World Championships wins.
But hot on his heels is Jimmy Samuels, who took out second place last year, and has snapped up the last two quick shear comps on the circuit.
Samuels took out the Kojonup Speed Shear in 17.95 seconds. Days later he picked up his 77th speed shear title at Katanning, edging him closer to his ultimate goal of 100 speed shear wins. There are bets being placed on whether he can make it a trifecta in Mundijong.
“But I’ve got my money on Ethan Harder,” organiser Tawai Howden said.
“He’s a local WA lad out of Bruce Rock, and he won the first quick shear competition up in York earlier this month.
“Plus he was snapping at Jimmy’s heels in the other two. I reckon he’ll get up.”
But Tawai said she’ll be happy whatever the result, as long as the biggest winner on the night is the sheep industry.
“I hope it brings more attention to the industry – I really want to shine a light on shearers and the hard work we all do,” she said.
“We’ve had our backs up against the wall for a while now with everything that’s been going on.”
The event will also feature a guest speaker from the Keep The Sheep campaign.
“I’ve had a lot of interest from locals who tell me they want to come along and check out what we do. So, I’m excited,” she said.
Shearing starts at 6pm this Saturday at the Mundijong Tavern.
