Welly error provides plenty of laughs for ploughing faithful
The 9am train from Dublin to Cork was packed on Thursday morning, as it should be.
However, the majority of passengers remained in their seats for just 44 minutes before disembarking, with the wellies giving away their intended destination.
More than 200,000 people attended this year’s National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, Co Laois, over three days and although the sun shone heavily on the final day, the muck remained.
For a reporter without wellies, alarm bells began ringing and red flags popped up at the sight of a mucky Portlaoise train station.
Even a kind steward smirked knowingly at the runners, knowing what was going to happen.
My arrival was greeted by one man saying, “Where is he going in runners?” while another asked, “Are you from Dublin?” Making an error so few seem to have made resulted in a vicious circle of grinning and bearing.
The rural wit was palpable, with most people in a constant state of laughter and giddiness, and the same could be said for farmer Shane Tully from Sligo and his wife Francis, who said the NPC had been “fantastic”.
Mr Tully said this year’s Ploughing has been as political as ever, something which will only continue.
“Sure [Micheál] Martin is down there looking for a lift home,” he quipped.
He signalled a change among rural communities, saying small farmers are moving on from former political allegiances.
Aside from hundreds of vendors selling everything you could imagine, there was vast interest in tents offering alternative forms of fuel and energy, with queues lining up with genuine interest to hear about more sustainable options.
Elsewhere, the anticipation was palpable at the National Brown Bread Baking Competition, before the overall winner for 2023 was crowned.
“The calibre this year is so high,” said competition host Síle Seoige, who described the competition as “a big deal". And it was. The winner would see their signature brown bread stocked in all Aldi stores across the country in addition to winning a cool €15,000.
Hundreds of entrants from across Ireland were whittled down to just eight, who had battled it out since Wednesday in front of a live audience.
In the end, it was Loretta McGuire who came out on top, having wowed the judges with her “hearty, delicious loaf” which was said to have a “unique signature flavour”.
Ms McGuire said going from baking bread at home to competing at the National Ploughing Championships was “wonderfully surreal”, while the opportunity to see her bread being sold in Aldi stores is “just the cherry on top".
National charities had a strong presence at this year’s Ploughing, with Helping Irish Hosts receiving a visit from Tánaiste Micheál Martin, who stopped by for a cup of tea and a slice of cake.
The charity takes pledges and matches families with Ukrainian refugees, also offering support to hosts.
“We had three pledges before 10 o'clock on the first morning. We've had an amazing response, it's been incredible. We've had people sitting around this table consistently,” said co-founder Jill Robinson.
She said the stall has allowed staff to ease any concerns for new hosts, while offering support to hosts who did not know such a group existed.
“The other thing is that we want to talk to rural hosts. There's a lot of rural hosts still waiting to host and that's a conversation that is easier to have in person,” she said.
Ms Robinson said rural hosts with “amazing properties” can be left frustrated with a lack of matches, particularly due to logistics and a lack of services close to the hosts, such as public transport.
As the day drew to an end and exhibitors and vendors packed up shop, muck-covered visitors left with the air of having won a war, exhausted but undefeated having conquered most, if not all, corners of the huge site.
After spending the day chasing politicians and bread competition winners, I racked up almost 20,000 concentrated and calculated steps, each one slowly calculated for fear of falling in front of all the welly-wearing pros.
The erratic weather brought a swift and appropriate chill after the day's unseasonable warmth.
Cars streamed out of the carparks while the masses of public transport users undertook the final leg of their trip.
To end the day, the bus back to the train station even hosted a sing-song, with passengers aptly singing 'Travelin’ Soldier'.
Indeed, it was a fever dream of a day but the soldiers were coming home and will return next year... even if they were from Dublin.
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