Ireland set to host World Ploughing Contest in 2034
NPA Managing Director Anna May McHugh with world champion ploughmen Eamonn Tracey from Carlow and Jer Coakley from West Cork at the National Ploughing Championships launch on site at Ratheniska Photos: Alf Harvey
The 2034 World Ploughing Contest has been provisionally allocated to the Republic of Ireland.
It will be the 80th anniversary of the event being first held on the island of Ireland in 1954, when Killarney was the venue. That was also the first time the Contest was staged in Europe.
The island of Ireland has hosted the showpiece on ten occasions, six in the Republic, and four in Northern Ireland.
Following the Killarney event, the Contest has been held twice (1973 and 1981) at Wellingtonbridge, Co Wexford, and at Oakpark, Carlow (1996), Tullow, Carlow (2006) and Ratheniska, Co Laois, (2022).
Limavaddy, Co Derry (1979, 1991, 2004) and Armoy, Co. Antrim (1959) have been the venues in Northern Ireland.
Charlie Keegan, Martin Keogh, John Whelan, Eamon Tracey, and Jer Coakley have each won the Contest for the Republic.
Hugh Barr, Lawrence McMillan, Desmond Wright, Thomas Cochrane, David Wright, David Gill and Samuel Gill have been successful for Northern Ireland.
Tracey, who is from Garryhill in Carlow, brought his World Contest wins to six last year and shared with the late Hugh Barr the distinction of having won the title three years in a row.
Last year’s ploughing successes of Tracey (conventional) and Jer Coakley (reversible), a dry-stock and tillage farmer from Clonakilty, Co. Cork, had further significance.
It meant ploughmen from the Republic had won both World titles three years in succession - Wexford’s John Whelan having also triumphed in the reversible event in 2022 and 2023.
Anna Marie McHugh, World Ploughing Organisation general secretary, said Ireland has always been highly respected internationally in terms of producing ploughmen to compete on the world stage.
The Czech Republic recently hosted this year’s World Contest in Prague. Next year’s event will take place in Croatia.
Meanwhile, the 70th World Ploughing Contest got off to a great start in the Czech Republic last weekend for Jer Coakley from Clonakilty, Co Cork.
He won the World Stubble championship title for the Republic of Ireland on the opening day of what is known as the Olympics of competitive ploughing.
Coakley, a 37-year-old farmer and agricultural contractor, went on to finish in second place in the overall reversible contest which was won by Switzerland’s Marco Angst.
Winning gold and silver honours were outstanding performances by the West Cork man, who competed with a Ford tractor and Kverneland plough.
Last year, he became the first Munster ploughman to win the overall Reversible championship at the World Contest in Estonia.
Veteran ploughman, Martin Kehoe, Ballycullane, Wexford, a three times World Champion, finished eight out of 26 competitors in last week-end’s conventional contest, won by England’s James Witty.
