GYS: Decade of journeys south to clock up sheep prize

From a record number of more than 2,400 sheep entries, it came down to a tricky choice between four sheep in the supreme championship.
By The Newsroom
Published 13th Jul 2016, 19:28 BST
Updated 25th Aug 2016, 17:18 BST
Andrew Clark with his Texel, winner of supreme champion sheep on day two of the Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate. Picture: Tony Johnson.Andrew Clark with his Texel, winner of supreme champion sheep on day two of the Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate. Picture: Tony Johnson.
Andrew Clark with his Texel, winner of supreme champion sheep on day two of the Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate. Picture: Tony Johnson.

One of those in the sheep ring for the grand finale of the competitive classes was a lean Swaledale shown by North Pennines farmers Tom and Kay Hutchinson, who starred in the recently acclaimed film that documented a year in their lives, ‘Addicted to Sheep’.

But after long, hard and purposeful looks, the judge, Keighley’s Mr Throup, picked out his winner and it was an 18-month-old Texel gimmer belonging to Scotland’s Andrew Clark.

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Mr Clark declared himself delighted at the win, which was the second in a couple of weeks with the same sheep and his first supreme championship win at the Great Yorkshire Show after years of trying.

The third generation Lanarkshire farmer runs a flock of around 70 ewes.

He said: “I have been coming to the Great Yorkshire Show for about ten years now and it’s fantastic to win. It’s the first time I have won here.”

His Texel impressed the judge the most after a similar feat at a show closer to Mr Clark’s home. It won the Royal Highland Show at the end of last month, and both wins are the realisation of a dream.

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Mr Clark said: “It’s been a lifetime ambition to win here and at the Highland Show. The Great Yorkshire Show is a big deal to me.”

The reserve champion was a Bleu Du Maine, a breed of domestic sheep that originated in western France. It was shown by stocksman Will Price on behalf of Percy Tait from Worcester in the West Midlands.

The two-crop sheep was the breed champion at the Royal Highland Show.

It has been a highly successful show for Mr Tait - who is a former International Isle of Man TT motorcycle racer - as he also tasted success in the British Rouge breed championship.