Sheep shearer breaks world record by shaving 517 ewes in nine hours

Ms Cameron, who lost three stone while preparing for the event, at which she was also raising money for Blood Cancer UK in Cornwall and St Luke’s Hospice, said it was a “very painful dream but a dream – I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet”.

“Every shearer, when they start shearing, there’s always a dream that there might be a world record somewhere and very few get the opportunity to do it and I was given the opportunity,” she told BBC Radio Cornwall.

“It was quite painful but if you’re going to wait until you’re 51 to do stupid crazy things you can expect a bit of pain afterwards.”

‘I never thought I was good enough’

Ms Cameron, who first lifted shearing equipment at Borders College in the 1980s, is the only woman to have made the Top 30 at the Golden Shears in New Zealand and won the Scottish speed shear title last year at Strathaven Show.

“I never thought I was good enough but my friends and peers from the industry have pushed me to attempt it, and with their support, I know I can do it,” she previously told the Border Telegraph.

She said that she had found the early years of her career “quite difficult” because “most people assumed you would be doing the wool when you walked into a shearing shed”.

“More women are now coming into the industry and are proving themselves as competent shearers,” she added.