Record 167,000 crowd gets down and dirty

A RECORD 167,000 people are estimated to have attended the three-day National Ploughing Championships which ended on a high note at Ballinabrackey, Co Meath, last evening.

The attendance on opening day was estimated to be 42,000. It was 75,000 on the second day. And yesterday, an estimated 50,000 people attended.

Fine weather, a good site, a traffic plan that worked well and the fact that the event was being held for the first time in its entirety in Meath, contributed to the success.