Wales wins European Young Shepherd 2013 Competition
9th September 2013
Last week saw eight competitors from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (all successful participants in NSA Young Shepherd of the Year competitions at NSA sheep events this year) travel to Bellac, France, for the European Young Shepherd final.
There were two days of competition (3rd and 4th September) involving shepherding elements such as an exam, sheep handling and drafting, foot paring, quad bike skills and lamb classification and selection – and the final result saw Welsh young shepherd Rhydian Thomas in first place, a French competitor in second and Adam Crockett from NI in third.
Our competitors were also outstanding in a separate shearing competition, taking all four of the top positions. Sam Bullingham (England) won the event, Jonathan Mckelvey (NI) was second, third was Rhydian Thomas (Wales) and Ian Christie (Scotland).
Rhodri Manod Owen of Glynllifon College, Caernarfon, was one of two guides travelling with the UK team. He says: “Given that we had two from the team in the top three (a phenomenal achievement) and that eight behaved and performed at a consistently high level throughout the event shows we are fortunate in the UK to have such talent. This team in particular were exemplar ambassadors to our sheep industry. They socialised with competitors from other nations and competed to the best of their ability whilst having a smile on their face. Myself and Dave Turner as guides were extremely proud of all of them.”
RESULTS
- 1. Rhydian Thomas, Wales
- 2. Clément Puech, France
- 3. Adam Crockett, Northern Ireland
- 4. Jonathan McKelvey, Northern Ireland
- 5. George Hartley-Webb, England
- 6. Florian Delbut, France
- 7. Stéphane Arriuberge, France
- 8. David Colthart, Scotland
- 9. Ian Christie, Scotland
- 10. Sam Bullingham, England
- 11. Markus Lehman, Germany
- 12. Guto Roberts, Wales
- 13. Zoltan Szabo, Hungary
- 14. Monika Varga, Hungary
- 15. Kathleen Götze, Germany
