World record-breaking Irish shearer Ivan Scott is looking for two lucky breaks as he prepares for the Golden Shears World Championships in the Co. Wexford town of Gorey, on May 22-25.
One would be a break in the Letterkenny weather, so that he can shear a few more sheep before the big competition, and the other would be what he concedes is a lucky break he may need to become Ireland’s first ever finalist in the glamour machine shearing event.
Home less than a fortnight after a month shearing in Switzerland, the 33-year-old gun from Kilmacrennan knows he has his work cut-out to make the six-man final over 20 sheep each, expected to be shorn in front of over 1,000 people in the ICM Dome being erected especially for the championships on a 25-acres site at Knockmullen, on the outskirts of Gorey.
Unlucky ‘next man in’ when just missing a place in the final at the last World championships two years ago at the home of the Golden Shears in Masterton, NZ, he will have to make his way safely through the heats and then beat at least one Scotsman, New Zealander or Welshman in the semi-finals to have any chance of shooting for the major prize.
Watching Ivan Scott at work are Jeff Dorset (left) and Tony Coster. Photo: Doug Laing, Shearing Sports New Zealand.