Village cuts fine figure for charity with ride-on record

A TINY Kilkenny village made history yesterday when a world record was smashed for the most ride-on lawnmowers cutting at the same time.

708 mowers were driven simultaneously in Dunnamaggin, trimming grass for exactly one minute, and raising thousands for special-needs charities.

More than 2,500 spectators packed into the local GAA grounds to cheer on the cutters in the most high-profile event the remote village has ever hosted.

There was a slight hiccup when smoke billowed out of one of the machines as drivers lined up in six rows to start the record attempt just after 3pm yesterday.

But it was only a temporary blip as the lawnmowers — transported for the day from nearly every county in Ireland — completed the requisite 60 seconds of cutting to huge cheers.

One of the organisers, Maura Long, said: “We always knew we were going to break the record, because the previous one, set in Australia, was only 86 mowers operating at the same time. But this went a lot better than expected.

“There was such huge participation, with 200 mowers arriving yesterday and another 500-odd this morning from every corner of the country. Luckily, none of them broke down during the record attempt.

“There was a huge roar when all the mowers were going at the same time. I’ve never heard anything as loud in my life. But it was brilliant craic. We’ve also raised a lot of money for local therapeutic services, which is the main thing.

“We now have to send the video footage and photos to Guinness to get the record officially recognised, but that won’t be a problem,” she added.

Local farmer, Billy Heffernan, who came up with the idea, said: “We’re not used to the spotlight here. There’s just a pub, a church and credit union in the village, so we had to get as many people involved as possible. We had 140 stewards signed up and had to go through a lot of health an safety regulations.

“We even organised a system to put barcoded stickers on each of the mowers taking part to ensure that someone who turned up with an old crock of a machine didn’t try and make off with a brand-new one after the record attempt.”