Northern Ireland ploughmen have scooped six top three placements in the recent European Ploughing Championships held at Shackleton Barracks in Ballykelly last weekend.
The competition included the European Reversible and Conventional Ploughing Championships, European Vintage Ploughing Championships and Horse Ploughing Competition with over 60 competitors arriving from throughout Europe.
Countries represented at the competition included Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Ireland, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland and Wales.
Irish competitor Dan Donnelly took first place in the European Reversible class whilst fellow Irishman Sean Keating secured first place for European Conventional class.
In the European Vintage Ploughing John Crowder was crowned the overall champion having also placed first for England in the Vintage Trail, Emlyn Jones took the top spot in Vintage Mounted for Wales, Alan Simms for Ireland was placed first in Classic Mounted, English ploughman Graham Sutton was awarded first place for Classic Reversible whilst Declan Ferris took Northern Ireland’s only first placed medal in the Horse Ploughing competition.
Other Northern Ireland ploughmen who were placed in the top three include Rodney Crawford (3rd, European Conventional), Dai Kennedy (3rd, Classic Mounted), Mercer Ward (3rd, Vintage Reversible) and Ben McLaughlin (2nd, Horse Ploughing) and Donal McAllister (3rd, Horse Ploughing competition).
The championships were hosted by the Northern Ireland Ploughing Association (NIPA), the governing body of competition ploughing across Northern Ireland uniting 21 affiliated ploughing societies across the country with approximately 500 members.
Adrian Jamison, Chairman of the Northern Ireland Ploughing Association said: “We are delighted to have hosted the European Ploughing Championships in Northern Ireland this year, it was a pleasure to welcome our fellow ploughmen from across Europe to Ballykelly.
“Congratulations to all the ploughmen who were placed and a special congratulations to all the Northern Ireland competitors who did us proud.”
Ronnie Coulter, Chairman of the European Ploughing Association added: “We would like to thank everyone involved in Horse and Vintage classes which were a favourite of the spectators.
“To the winners we give our congratulations and hope for a good turnout when the event is held in Holland in 2023. The qualifier for which will be held at the NI International in October.
“Special thanks to Kenneth Gracey and Victor Scott for their financial assistance to the Horse Championship.”
The Northern Ireland Ploughing Championships will be taking place Friday October 7 and Saturday October 8 at Lany Road in Moira. More information can be found at niploughing.com or at facebook.com/niploughing
Results
European Reversible and Conventional Ploughing Championships
European Reversible Class
- Dan Donnelly, Ireland, 1st
- Jer Coakley, Ireland, 2nd
- Yves Thievon, France, 3rd
European Conventional Class
- Sean Keating, Ireland, 1st
- Rhodri George, Wales, 2nd
- Rodney Crawford, Northern Ireland, 3rd
European Vintage Ploughing Championships
Vintage Trail
- John Crowder, England, 1st
- John Woulfe, Ireland, 2nd
- Douglas Stewart, Scotland, 3rd
Vintage Mounted
- Emlyn Jones, Wales, 1st
- Charlie Nicklin, England, 2nd
- David Veitch, Scotland, 3rd
Classic Mounted
- Alan Simms, Ireland, 1st
- David Tomlinson, England, 2nd
- Dai Kennedy, Northern Ireland, 3rd
Classic Reversible Parallel
- Graham Sutton, England, 1st
- Neil Ramsay, Scotland, 2nd
- Fraser Millar, Scotland, 3rd
Vintage Reversible
- Marius Jenniskens, Netherlands, 1st
- Ben Buijs, Netherlands, 2nd
- Mercer Ward, Northern Ireland, 3rd
Horse Ploughing Competition
- Declan Ferris, Northern Ireland, 1st
- Ben McLaughlin, Northern Ireland, 2nd
- Donal McAllister, Northern Ireland, 3rd
More information can be found at niploughing.com or at facebook.com/niploughing