"What's with the sheep diving off the starting block?", you may ask.
Well - what do you think?
Before we give you the answer, have a guess and then click on the link below.
For those of you reading this in New Zealand you may well have an advantage if you know something about the town of Masterton and the Wairarapa region in which it lies.
For the rest of you (plus the Kiwi's without a clue), you'll need to have a look at the THE ANSWER below.
Every sport has its World Championships. This includes sheep shearing. It's not the official world championships but the world's premier Shearing and Wool handling Championships that takes place in Masterton each year, in what is now called the Genesis Recreation Centre.
This event is famous throughout NZ and if you are a sheep farmer outside of our waters, you have probably heard of it too.
Because Masterton Masters actually swim at the same time as the championships are on, and because the championships began before we did, and because they exist literally next door to our pool, and because they are cuddly and cute, then we adopted the wooly fella as our logo.
He hasn't always been there. The Club started without him in 1983; probaly just a lamb at the time. But in November 1988 he was introduced. He couldn't find any togs to fit and so he's gone commando.
So the Masterton Masters swim club has piggy-backed the popularity of this event and dubbed themselves as "Shear Magic" and used the sheep diving off a starting block as having the dual symbolism of shearing and swimming.
Yup - it's an unusual mix. But our Club can boast a pedigree of national Masters record holders, world ranked Masters swimmers and a quadruple World Masters champion. So we don't care !
Have a look at the The Golden Shears website here
