Scottish shearer Gavin Mutch has made his mark on the continent by winning an open competition in Spain on his debut venture to the European country.
The Huntly native who now resides in New Zealand marked the twelfth country he has won an open competition, where he was hosted by Josep and Jordi from Boletin Esquiladores, the Spanish importers of Heiniger.
Gav secured first place in the four-man final at Salón Ovino, in the Badajoz Province, in with the fastest time on the board as second lowest board and pen marks, having clipped his 10 Merino ewes in 10 minutes and 36 seconds to give a time score of 31.80.
Combined with 43 marks on the board (4.30 points) and 83 in the pen (4.15 points, bearing in mind the Spanish scoring system differs from the British), Gav totalled 40.25, more than two full points ahead of his nearest competitor, Manuel Maria Calvo, from the Cabeza del Buey region of Spain, on 42.35.
Fellow Spaniard, Ion Bulz, from Murcia, was third with 59.80 while Uruguay’s Nicolas Olivera was fourth with 67.95.
The trip saw Gav travel 40,000km by plane and 2,000km more by car in just the space of one week as they toured the country and got some practice in with a local squad before the competition.