RISK AND REWARD FOR LIAM PARK AT NEW ZEALAND SHEEP DOG TRIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

The hunt courses at the New Zealand Sheep Dog Trial Championships were dominated by North Islanders and, on day one, Palmerston lad Liam Park found himself on the leader board of the zigzag course. And there he stayed right to the end.

The week started off wet at the event in the King Country. Wet-weather gear was a must as competitors squinted up through the drizzle to the hilltops, whistling their dogs on.

Day one was particularly damp and the sheep were sulky, but Liam (25) and his huntaway bitch Risk were lucky to be drawn three “reasonable” sheep in the afternoon.

“I knew Risk had it in her to do well, she has been going well at work, but it always just depends how things go on the day.

“I was super rapt to make the leader board, and I thought it would be pretty cool to stay on for a day or two. But each day my name stayed on, the more nervous I got,” Liam said.

He was asked to help liberate the sheep on the zigzag course later in the week.

“I watched quite a few runs that were pretty tidy and wondered each time if that was the run that was going to bump me off.”

The runoff on the final day was the most nervous Liam reckoned he had ever been.

The course had a tricky “leveller” at the top which was make-or-break for many competitors, but Risk did a good job, and the pair went from seventh after their first run to fourth after their second.

“It was pretty surreal, to be honest. I am still fizzing from the whole experience,” he said.

The camaraderie of the week had been a highlight.

“I have had my hand shaken, well and truly.”

Not originally off a farm, Liam finished school at East Otago High School and went to help his friend Logan Clulee contract gorse spraying at Mt Watkins Station, near Waikouaiti.

He discovered there was a shepherd job going on the property and approached owners Dave and Sarah Smith. They took him on, and with the job came an old huntaway.

He quickly gained farming knowledge, grew his team of dogs, and enjoyed four years working for the couple.

He attended a dog training day hosted by Lloyd Smith and became good friends with Tom McIntosh, a neighbouring shepherd from the North Island and a keen dog triallist.

“We did a lot of dog training together and he taught me a fair bit.”

On moving to the North Island, initially to work as a casual, Liam said the change in dog work up there was “night and day”.

“The country is just so much steeper. You almost always need to hunt the stock up hill. There’s a lot more room for error and there’s always an element of pressure.”

The farms also tended to carry more stock units per hectare so the workload relative to the area of land could be quite high.

It is this consistent huntaway work that Liam attributes to the domination North Islanders show on the leader board, particularly in the hunt courses.

“A lot of young guys are getting a lot sharper in their training, too; really nailing good sides on their dogs and just working hard to get a dog with really strong steering gear,” he said.