Shear Brilliance - Una shears 517 to achieve new World Record

Una, from St Boswells, smashed a world sheep-shearing record at a farm in Cornwall, cropping a remarkable 517 sheep in nine hours – an effort described by one expert as the equivalent of running two marathons back to back.

She has now beaten the previous women’s solo strongwool ewe record set in February by Sacha Bond, who sheared 458 ewes in the same time slot in New Zealand.

Fifty-one year old Una has certainly not let her age define her, she has been in training for the past year, lost three stones in weight and honed her shearing skills gained over the past three decades.

Shearing Romney sheep at Trefranck Farm in Cornwall, to get the required 3kg wool weight Una tallied 113 in the opening run of two hours and followed with successive 1hr 45min runs of 105, 101, 104 and 94.

With a support crew of around forty from the shearing fraternity from as far as New Zealand, the Falklands and Norway, Una was delighted to accomplish her dream and said: “I had a wonderful team behind me and they believed that I could do it. I was focused on passing the 458 mark, but always wanted to shear 500.

“I can't thank everyone enough, especially Matt and Pip Smith, who hosted the event on Trefranck Farm.”

Gareth Jones, Head of Member Engagement, British Wool said: “On behalf of British Wool we offer huge congratulations to Una on her successful record attempt. This was a display of high quality shearing and Una should be very proud of her achievements.”

“We appreciate the hard work that goes on behind the scenes in holding a record and therefore offer congratulations to everyone that has helped and supported Una in successfully setting a new World Shearing Record.”

The record was overseen by a World Sheep Shearing Records Society referees panel including New Zealand official Ronny King, Mark Fox, England, Martyn Davies, Wales and Andy Rankin, from Loch Lomond in Scotland.