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Mangawhai’s master butcher and blade-slinger champion, Dan Klink, is all set to showcase his exceptional skills on the global stage.
Klink and six fellow members of the country’s national butchery team, the Hellers Sharp Blacks, are en route to represent New Zealand at the World Butchers’ Challenge (WBC) in Paris on March 31.
Often referred to as the Olympics of Meat, the top-tier kiwi butchers – Aucklander’s Riki Kerekere (captain), Reuben Sharples, Luka Young, Cherise Redden and Corey White, with Samantha Weller from Christchurch, plus Klink – will go cleaver-to-cleaver with teams from 13 nations at the Paris Expo, Porte de Versailles, with their sights set on bringing home gold.
“It’s an unreal opportunity to be part of this team and represent NZ at such a high level,” Dan says. “The competition is fierce and every team brings their A-game. We’re judged on technique, skill, workmanship, product innovation, overall finish and presentation, so we’ve been training hard.”
Running since 2011 as a trans-Tasman rivalry between NZ and Australia, the WBC has grown into a global event across five continents with new, participating nations within Asia and Europe, including Indonesia, Belgium, Czech Republic, Romania and Spain.
Prior to the main event, NZ butchers will also compete in the WCB Apprentice and Young Butcher competitions.
Klink and the Sharp Blacks have stepped onto the international stage before, taking out the bronze in the Friedr. Dick Golden Knife trophy in San Diego in 2022. The team had three-and-a-half hours to transform a side of beef and pork, a whole lamb and five chickens into a themed display. Their choice was a traditional butcher shop.
The community naturally have got behind their favourite butcher and supported him with travel costs following a social media post about his funding shortfall, posted by Jeanne Jury.
Encouraged to organise a fundraising raffle, Klink was also supported by Mangawhai businesses, with Bammas generously donating a surfboard as first prize. Other prizes included a limited-edition Hellers Sharp Blacks victory knife roll set and goody bag of donations, leading to tickets selling out quickly.
Klink says he is humbled by the outpouring of support from the Mangawhai community.
“I honestly can’t believe the response,” he says. “This town is full of amazing, generous people, and I feel incredibly lucky to be part of it.”
To follow Dan and the Sharp Blacks as they take on the world’s best, go to www.instagram.com/sharpblacksnz and www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556887341030
