Author: National Ploughing Admin

 Today Simon Coveney, TD, Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine has congratulated the newly crowned World Champion Ploughmen who arrived into Dublin Airport this morning.
 
‘I’d like to extend my sincere congratulations to John Whelan and Eamonn Tracey following their exceptional achievements over the weekend. They have competed at the very highest level of world ploughing and won gold and bronze between them. Both have displayed a huge amount of talent and dedication to complete this extraordinary achievement.’
 
The World Ploughing Championships took place in Alberta, Olds, Canada .John Whelan from Wexford and Eamonn Tracey from Carlow won Gold and Bronze in their competitive classes.
 
Minister Coveney concluded ‘This is an very proud day for both the winners and the whole team including coach  Brian Ireland and all those involved in this industry across the country.’

About The Race

Where: Please come join us for the 2013 Plough-On & Run, a 10k fun run in aid of VITA on September 22nd at 11am in Ratheniska, Stradbally, Co. Laois, the site of the 2013 National Ploughing Championships. All proceeds from this NON-PROFIT event are in aid of VITA.

The route will be a relatively flat around the site of this year’s Ploughing Championships. The 10km road surface is ideal for a Personal Best, Couch to 5k or fun runners.

Registration

• Online only registration – this reduces cost.
• Online at Run Ireland: http://www.runireland.com/active/enter-this/204606
• or links on the following websites: www.vita.ie, www.npa.ie www.asaireland.ie
• Cost EUR15.00. 
• Deadline for online entries is Sept 21st at 6pm; online entries must collect their race number on the day.

On the day:

• Please arrive early to give yourself time to collect your number and warm up. 
• Important: The main roads will not be closed so please note you will be running with light traffic on one side of the road
• We will have a bag drop area at the registration area
• First Aid cover and water will be provided on the day
• Goodie bag at the finish line for all participants
• Small prizes to the fastest runners in each category
• Representatives and info from VITA explaining what they do, so you can see who you are helping. 
• A map of the course will be available online closer to the day.
• The emphasis on the day is to have fun for both the novice and the more experienced runner, families and friends spending time together and making a difference.

Please come out and support this fantastic charity and we hope to see you on the day.
The link to enter is below: 
http://www.runireland.com/active/enter-this/204606

The National Ploughing Association and Bank of Ireland today launched a promotional brochure giving details of the upcoming 82nd National Ploughing Championships taking place from 24th, 25th, 26th September in Ratheniska, Stradbally, Co Laois. Ireland’s Largest Outdoor Event is making a long overdue return visit to the area for the first time in 70 years, since the Championships took place in Lamberton, Ratheniska in 1943.

Bank of Ireland was represented at the launch by Sean Farrell, Head of Agriculture, Bank of Ireland Business Banking who said: “The National Ploughing Championships is a very important sponsorship for the Bank. We approved in excess of €500 million in new and increased lending to the agri sector last year and we have ambitions to grow this figure in the current year. In focusing on this growth drive, we recently appointed a new team of agricultural development managers to ensure that we can support our existing and new farming and agri customers. We would encourage anyone in this sector who is looking for credit to come and talk to us. We will have our annual stand at the event and new and existing customers can come and meet with us there”. Also present were host farmers David & Clive Carter, Anna May McHugh and NPA Chairman James Sutton.

This year will see an array of new and exciting exhibitor’s as well as hundreds of veteran companies showcasing their products and services. In the machinery section for the first time we have Lucas G SAS, travelling from France to showcase their feeders, straw bedders and diet feeders.  All of the Agri. Sectors will be well represented and a number of Product launches are at the planning stage.

The National Ploughing Association is working in conjunction with Failte Ireland and Tourism Ireland to be part of the Gathering Ireland Initiative for 2013. We will be introducing a traditional Irish Céilí to the 2013 event as part of the Gathering Ireland, showcasing traditional Irish culture to our overseas visitors

Leader Village will again be presenting entrepreneurs, businesses and a variety of groups supported by Leader, exhibiting a fantastic diversity of products and services all under one roof. Laois County Council will be showcasing the best of the economic, social and cultural services that Laois has to offer.
Returning to the show this year will be the tremendously popular Tented Trade Village with demand necessitating all marquees this year to be the large type, introduced for the first time for a portion of the indoor exhibition on a trial basis last year.
Already the Food Fayre looks like it will be extended this year with Good Food Ireland, Bord Bia and an array of artisan food producers showcasing their wares. The Forestry Village will feature the Husqvarna Pole Climbing, Advisory Authorities and many of the services associated with this sector. 
A number of new and exciting initiatives in the Agricultural Machinery Sector are at the planning stage and will add an interesting dimension to the arena which will see the welcome return to our Innovations Arena also.

In the ploughing stakes a particularly strong programme has attracted entries from all around the country and Northern Ireland bringing the number preparing to plough in Laois to 330 over the 3 days.

Exhibition Space is at a premium at this stage with the NPA Site Team starting to mark out the Trade Arena from early August, this is expected to exceed the size of the 2012 Championships.

Download the brochure HERE.

Ploughing Returns to Ratheniska 79 Years On

The National Ploughing will take place in Ratheniska, Stradbally, Co. Laois on 24th, 25th, 26th September 2013 bridging a 70 year gap since the Championships was last held in the area.

David Carter and his family will be the main landowners with many neighboring farmers providing ploughing and parking ground to meet the requirement of 700 acres for this huge National and International Event. 

The impact of the Ploughing Championships in 2011 was a staggering €36 million and plans for the 2013 event are nearly complete. This very central Laois location just off the N80 and M7 is expected to draw an even bigger attendance than 2012’s figure of 187,000. 

Ms Anna May McHugh, Managing Director of the NPA said “I’m obviously delighted that the event is in my home county this year and I have enjoyed the build-up working with the people of Ratheniska, Stradbally and Laois to make this one of our best events yet.
 
The venue in Ratheniska marks 70 years since the Championships were first held in county Laois and on that occasion, Lamerton, Ratheniska hosted the event in 1943.  Since then the Championships were also held in Ballacolla, Co. Laois in 1995, 2000 and 2002.  2013 will mark the 5th time for the National Ploughing Championships to take place in the O’Moore County.

The Ploughing fields in Co. Laois will play host to World Ploughing Champion medalists John Whelan and Eamon Treacey who won massive ploughing accolades this year in Canada with Gold and Bronze medals.