*Photograph: Natasha Barton
“A RECORD CROWD” attended the Clare Ploughing Championships.
Hosted on the six acre field of John Meehan in Crussa, Newmarket-on-Fergus, close to 1000 people attended the match which Meehan described as “a record crowd. It was one of our biggest crowds ever,” he told The Clare Echo.
It was Meehan’s fourth time hosting the Clare championships, having done so in 1973, 1997 and 2002 prior to Sunday.
Senior, U28 and junior classes, confines and open were held in what was the first Clare Ploughing Championships in three years. Single furrow and horse ploughing were also to be seen with new and vintage machinery on display. There was also the rare display of Oxen ploughing, the bullocks had been trained to pull logs by one farmer who is in possession of a high amount of forestry.
Farmers and attendees travelled from counties such as Dublin, Tipperary, Cork and Mayo both to compete and enjoy the spectacle.
