Ratheniska to host global ploughing stars

Daniel Gladwell will represent Australia in the World Championships, which the NPA is hosting as part of the 2022 National Ploughing Championships.

Teams from Australia and New Zealand will be among the 26 competing countries at next week’s World Contest in Ratheniska.

Wayne Clayton and Daniel Gladwell will represent Australia in the conventional event while Ian Woolley (conventional) and Bob Mehrtens (reversible) will carry New Zealand hopes.

The ploughmen from down under stressed their admiration for Ireland’s competitive ploughing heritage in separate interviews before embarking on their 12,000 miles journeys to Ireland Wayne Clayton, a 5th generation vegetable farmer, who diversified into sheep, cattle and broadacre (land suitable for large scale crop operations), became involved in ploughing competitively about 40 years ago.

Wayne Clayton will represent Australia in the conventional class at the World Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, Co Laois.

He stepped away for several years due to family and farming commitments, but he rekindled his involvement in recent years. Next week will be his first appearance at the World Contest.

Before leaving Australia, he said the local soils and familiar equipment at Ratheniska will mean an obvious home advantage for the Irish team of Eamonn Tracey (conventional) and John Whelan (reversible).

Wayne told Joan de Bondt of The Bridge News, his local paper, that the challenge is to plough a plot 20 metres by 100 metres with a two-furrow plough within three hours and as precise as possible.

“It’s all about neatness and straightness and being consistent all the way through. Soil types vary everywhere, and it’s about understanding the soil and ploughing with it to get the best out of it,” he said.

Competitors choose from two types of ploughing: conventional and reverse. Both Wayne and Daniel have opted for conventional ploughing.

Daniel Gladwell will represent Australia in the World Championships, which the NPA is hosting as part of the 2022 National Ploughing Championships.

Daniel Gladwell told Lachlan Bennett of ABC News that the ability to go and represent your country is a big thing. It is a tradition that runs in his blood. His father competed overseas many times “You get to travel the world and do something you do on your farm every day. But it will not be a cakewalk: ploughing is an incredibly unforgiving sport.

While 19 years-old Daniel will have his father to help coach him in Ireland, he won’t have his own tractor due to the cost of transporting such a large machine.

During the hours and hours of competition, ploughers constantly measure their furrows, adjust their equipment and check their progress.

Daniel’s father Peter said there is little you can do if you make a wrong move. He knows how gut-wrenching a mistake can be, but he also knows the euphoria of a perfectly ploughed field.

“It’s not a really good spectator sport, because things happen slowly … but if you like to see someone who takes pride in their work, makes the furrows look nice, it can change the landscape and make it something like a painting. There’s a great sense of satisfaction and achievement.”

His father said Daniel will also be on unfamiliar terrain, with different soil types requiring subtle changes to the ploughing technique. It will be competitive but not without camaraderie.

“All the ploughmen and all the coaches are all in the same hotel, basically. So, we’re always mingling with each other, we all have breakfast and dinner together.

“You do make a lot of friends from different varying parts of the world, and you’ll have a drink afterwards,” he said.

New Zealand’s Ian Woolley also spoke about how he’s excited to compete, and to soak up the atmosphere, as the event draws huge crowds, especially in Ireland.

Ian Wooley, from New Zealand, one of the visiting competitors attending the World Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, Co Laois. Picture: Brya Ingram / Stuf

Woolley told Radio New Zealand reporter Kim Moodie that he and his teammate Bob Mehrtens, who took the top titles at the New Zealand championships in May, are ready to compete against the world’s best.

Mehrtens will use a borrowed tractor, but he has sent his plough over on airfreight to compete after being advised to do so by two past world winners.

The New Zealand duo arranged to arrive in Ireland two-and-a-half, three weeks before the actual competition to practice and get themselves focussed.

But Woolley said it’s a fine balance - and the trick is to avoid over-practising. About three years ago, they were competing in the US, and practised for three weeks straight. But they didn’t have a good first day. They were 10th out of 30 competitors.

“So, you can overcook it and you’ve just got to have a couple of days off here and there, to let your brain relax,” he said.

Woolley said competing requires total focus. Like a lot of sports, it’s 95 percent concentration. But when the plough is going well, and you’ve sort of in the zone mentally, it makes things a lot easier.

Bob Mehrtens outlined the challenges arising from the World Contest venue being changed at short notice from Russia to Ireland and having to travel without his trusty blue Ford tractor.

Bob Mehrtens, who represents New Zealand at the World Ploughing Championships, a feature event at the National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, Co Laois. Picture: Mary-Jo Tohill/Fairfax NZ

He told Tim Cronshaw, Otago Daily Times, he couldn’t be happier about returning to Ireland for a third time to chase the elusive world reversible title and rekindle friendships.

“The Irish are very passionate plough people. When you go to the world ploughing in Ireland there will be 300,000 people there — it’s huge.

“I’ve been pretty fortunate that I’ve ploughed in Ireland the last two times in 1996 and 2006 and it’s just a sea of people.”

He admits he didn’t plough well by his own standards at either event, so hopefully it will be a case of third time lucky next week. Only three Kiwis have won the world conventional title, with the reversible yet to be claimed.

Mehrtens, who has contested about 13 world championships and has made about 45 national finals, won’t be able to ship his tractor and plough unit to Ireland, because of the short notice following the decision to move the event from Russia.

Kiwi qualifiers usually team up to squeeze both tractors and ploughs into a 40-foot (12.2m) container, but rising shipping costs, container unavailability, and the risk of them getting stuck in some port has put a dampener on that practice.

Without his Ford tractor and personal plough, he has had to rely on others for help to compete at Ratheniska. This is where the close relationship between competitors helps.

In 2010, when the world event was held in New Zealand an Irishman rang him up and asked if he could borrow his gear. Without hesitation he agreed.

“Little did I know that many years later that was going to come back and help me because I rang them up just a few weeks ago to find me a tractor and the next night they found me an identical tractor and plough ... It just goes to show that you have to give to receive.”

The Irishman who came to his aid was Thomas Cochrane, a world reversible champion from Coleraine in Derry. They are close friends, freely exchanging pointers even though they are rivals.

While it will not be his own rig, he is heartened that Cochrane and others have achieved at a high level on borrowed gear. As a diehard Ford fan, it doesn’t hurt that he will also be sitting on a beloved blue tractor.