That is how World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships organising committee chairman Tom Wilson describes preparing for the event in Invercargill next week. Mr Wilson, shearing great Sir David Fagan and Gavin Rowland, from Shearing Sports New Zealand, made the bid at the previous world championships in 2014 to hold the 2017 event in New Zealand. He teamed up with George Bayne to win the team championship in 1996 and was a member of the organising committee for the 2003 world championships in Edinburgh. In the all-nations event, held before the championships, there were probably about 400 entries across all grades which was "phenomenal". The 32 countries entered in the world championships was a record; it had never been above the mid-20s, he said.

Source: New Zealand Herald January 29, 2017 23:59 UTC