This article is from page 80 of the 2008-09-16 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 80 JPG
THE small Kilkenny parish of Danesfort will this month host the National Ploughing for the sixth time in it’s history. The countdown officially began last week for this year championships, which will take place from September 23 to 25.
This years championship will in- clude more than 900 trade stands, require more than 15 kilometres of trackway to be laid and feature a host of marquees and other infra- Name eneh cen
This years machinery exhibition promises to be bigger than ever with up to 15 tractors brands on show. The new Claas AXOS tractor range will be launched while Tanco will be launching three new products and
Hi-Spec will be showing the new XCEL 1250 spreader.
This year’s championships will play host to no less than 19 All Ire- land Ploughing finals over the course of the three days.
The Under-28 and Under-21 Cham- pions will be selected Tuesday while the Queen of the Plough and the Sen- ior Horse Champion will be selected Wednesday.
The Supreme Senior Conventional Champion selected over Wednes- day and Thursday, the Kverneland Reversible Champion selected from Thursday’s Reversible Test and these are just some of the finals taking je e-leror
The winner of the Supreme Conven- tional and the Kverneland Reversible will qualify to represent Ireland at
the World Ploughing Championships in Slovenia in 2009.
Wexford Ploughman Willie John Kehoe won a silver medal in the erassland competition at the World Contest in Austria recently and team mate John Whelan scooped fourth overall.
“We are delighted to be back in Kil- kenny on these magnificent farms of the Woodcock and Barry families,” said Managing Director of the NPA, Anna May McHugh at the official launch last week.
“Its been a terrible summer for farmers with at least 25 per cent of the harvest still to be cut but as you can see the site is in excellent condi- tion despite recent weather and we are looking forward to what’s shap- ing up to be one of our best events
to date.”
Meanwhile, Concern will be cel- ebrating its 40th birthday at this year’s Ploughing Championships. Chief Executive, Tom Arnold, said the agency is using the ploughing ex- hibit to thank the thousands of farm families for their generous support over the past four decades.
The Road Safety Authority (RSA) is also returning to the National Ploughing Championships this year as part of its campaign to promote road safety.
This year, the RSA will be offering 40,000 free high visibility vests for children and adults, in association atbe