In 1811 At Newbury in Berkshire, UK, a one thousand pound wager was made to make a coat from the back of a sheep to the back of a man in one day.
Watched by 5,000 people, the coat was completed in 13 hours. The sheep was eaten with much quaffing of beer to celebrate.
Today’s Challenge began in 1992 when Richard Snow, a keen young spinner at the Scottish Wool centre at Aberfoyle in Scotland, developed thyroid cancer. His desire to raise funds for cancer research sparked of their Back to Back Challenge, a competition very similar to that run almost two hundred years ago.
Teams consist of a blade shearer, a sheep and seven handspinners and knitters. Teams nominate time keepers: assessors and co-ordinators monitor each team competing at their own wool-related venue. All teams follow their identical challenge rules and pattern exactly as they are written. The competition is basically the time it takes to shear a sheep, comb, card, spin and ply the wool and then knit it into a sweater.
When the results were in for this year’s event – the 13th Annual Back to Back – the winners were...the Toronto Spiders! Working with a fleece from a Texel ewe belonging to John and Edie Steele, they turned in a winning time of six hours and 18 seconds. They were followed by teams from Australia in second and third places and one from Japan in fourth place.
Congratulations to Lorraine Smith, Julia Lee, Denise Powell, Barb Aikman, Wannietta Prescod, Karen Richens, Judy Pergau-Comfort and shearer John Steele.
Steele, Edie. “Canadians win Back to Back Challenge”. Sheep Canada. Vol. 22: Number 3, p. 29. Fall 2007.