National Ploughing Championships
The National Ploughing Championships began today 16 September, the first of three days at the site at Mucklagh, outside Tullamore. It is the second time the event has been held there, and huge crowds are expected to attend despite the inclement weather predicted. Of course, there is much focus on presidential candidates and their attendance at the championships which has come a long way since it began in the 1930s. Even browsing through the pages of the Irish Newspaper Archive one can see how the event has changed over time. Looking back to forty years when over 40,000 people attended the ploughing in Athy, county Kildare, the Leinster Express newspaper provides this account:
THE National Ploughing Championships returned to Athy last Wednesday and Thursday after a 30-year absence. And for the fifth time Carlow man John Tracey was crowned All-Ireland Champion. The 44-year-old winner from Carryhills automatically becomes ineligible for the World Ploughing Championships' because of a rule which only allows competitors to represent their country four times.
40, 000 people attended the championships representing one of the largest crowds ever to attend the national ploughing event. The Kilkea farm of Robert and Godfrey Green was transformed into a virtual showground for the two-day event. Managing Director and Secretary Anna May McHugh described the attendances as absolutely magnificent and beyond our expectations anime reveals that over 22,000 people attended on the first day of the championships on Wednesday a further 18,000 attended the event on Thursday justifying the national ploughing championships as a farmer's holiday the managing director said that the magnificent turn out was a tribute to the farming community of Ireland who attended at a busy time of the year particularly after this disastrous summer. Commercial concerns at the show had a brisk lime with farmers taking the opportunity of viewing the latest developments in agricultural machinery and equipment. A large-influx of visitors to the town boosted the commercial life of the town considerably. Indeed, Anna May told reporters that close to two thousand beds had been filled in the immediate Athy area and she heard no one looking for accommodation, a tribute to the accommodation agency established by the National Ploughing Association.
Forty years later and Anna May is still present at the championships!
For more information search the pages of the Irish Newspaper Archive (www.irishnewsarchive.com )