Sheep shearer breaks world record by shaving 517 ewes in nine hours

A Scottish sheep shearer has broken a world record by shaving 517 sheep in nine hours.

Una Cameron, a professional sheep shearer, clawed the women’s nine-hour “solo strong wool ewe” record from New Zealand champion Sacha Bond by 59 sheep at Trefranck Farm, in Launceston, Cornwall.

The 51-year-old took just four breaks and organisers said the feat was the equivalent of “running two marathons back to back”.

The challenge, which takes nine hours, reflects a typical working day for sheep shearers.

Ms Cameron, who lost three stone while preparing for the event, at which she was also raising money for Blood Cancer UK in Cornwall and St Luke’s Hospice, said it was a “very painful dream but a dream - I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet”.

“Every shearer, when they start shearing, there’s always a dream that there might be a world record somewhere and very few get the opportunity to do it and I was given the opportunity,” she told BBC Radio Cornwall.

“It was quite painful but if you’re going to wait until you’re 51 to do stupid crazy things you can expect a bit of pain afterwards.”

‘I never thought I was good enough’

Ms Cameron, who first lifted shearing equipment at Borders College in the 1980s, is the only woman to have made the Top 30 at the Golden Shears in New Zealand and won the Scottish speed shear title last year at Strathaven Show.

“I never thought I was good enough but my friends and peers from the industry have pushed me to attempt it, and with their support, I know I can do it,” she previously told the Border Telegraph.

She said that she had found the early years of her career “quite difficult” because “most people assumed you would be doing the wool when you walked into a shearing shed”.

“More women are now coming into the industry and are proving themselves as competent shearers,” she added.

Her mother Rose Cameron said her daughter had “lost three stone” in the run-up to the event.

“She’s not allowed to drink any tea or coffee, no caffeine at all,” she revealed. “She’s been having ice baths and God knows what and training really hard, but she’s looking really trim and good at the moment.”

Huw Condron, one of the organisers, said: “The fatigue obviously is a big thing when you’re expending a lot of energy.

“Shearing 250 sheep is the equivalent of running a marathon, so what Una is looking to do today, attempting to shear close to 500 or over, if possible, is like running two marathons back to back in nine hours.”

Curly Wurly

As well as winning a world record, Mr Condron promised Ms Cameron a Curly Wurly, “which she loves”, as a reward.

The record was verified by four adjudicators from the World Sheep Shearing Records Society.