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Day 1 – 82,000 visitors

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From early morning, the more familiar Irish weather threatened to dampen the extended warm spell Ireland is currently having. However, it held off well with just a brief light shower that was warmly welcomed by many of the ploughmen taking to the plots. It was felt that given the extended summer, the ground was a little hard-going, particularly for the Horse classes.

With traffic flowing well throughout the day, large numbers once again descended on the site in Ratheniska. This year witnessed 82,000 through the turnstiles on day 1. This marks an increase of approximately 1000 on the same day last year. Commenting on attendance, Ms Anna May McHugh stated “We are extremely pleased with the turn out today. Ratheniska is very centrally located with an excellent road network and good access to public transport. As a result, people attending can get to and from the site relatively easily and this makes a substantial difference. With good weather forecast for tomorrow along with an action packed day of trading and ploughing, we are expecting similar crowds once more”.

The event was officially opened today by President Michael D. Higgins. However, prior to attending his official duties, the President took to walking the Under 40 Horse and European Vintage Ploughing fields and speaking with several of the competitors. This was followed by an afternoon touring the sights and viewing the exhibits that is the National Ploughing Championships.

Tomorrow’s action packed day includes Fashion Shows, Brown Bread Baking, Welly Throwing competitions, Competitive Ploughing, Pole Climbing, Celebrity Cooking, Sport Stars, Music Stars and much much more. With all that is happening on site tomorrow and the expected continuance of good weather, large numbers are expected to descend on the Championships again for Day 2.