The Farmers Mart Aug/Sep 2013 - Issue 29 | Page 35
EVENTS
PACKED PROGRAMME FOR NATIONAL PLOUGHING CHAMPIONSHIPS
More than 200 top ploughmen from all over Britain will compete this autumn in the 2013 British National Ploughing Championships at Llanwarne, near Hereford by kind permission of Mrs I E Williams and family. Two busy days - Saturday and Sunday, October 12th and 13th - will be packed with competitions for many types of plough and styles of ploughing, and will climax when the two top ploughmen are selected to represent England at the 2014 World Ploughing Contest in France next year. The site, which is located approximately eight miles south of Hereford (on the A466 Hereford to Monmouth trunk road) covers 200 acres and has excellent facilities for competitors and public, with easy access by road and plenty of car parking space. Main sponsors of the Championships are Goodyear and Firestone, and upwards of 15,000 spectators are expected over the two days of the Championships. Visitors will see highly skilled competition ploughing plus an extensive trade stand area and attractions such as vintage tractors, ploughs and equipment; steam ploughing engines; a craft marquee; and demonstrations of the latest tractors, farm machinery and equipment under working conditions. On the first day the ploughmen will compete in two classes: reversible and conventional. Those who qualify will go through to the finals on the second day to find the two national champions. The first day also sees the final of the National Young Farmers’ Ploughing Championships, the David Brown Ploughing Championship, horticultural (or garden tractors), high cut tractor ploughing and horse ploughing. On the second day, there will be three classes for vintage tractor ploughing - with trailing ploughs, hydraulic ploughs and classic ploughs - and 75 area champions competing for the honour of being the
British Vintage Champion Ploughman and going on to represent England in the European Vintage Ploughing Championship s2014. There will also be horse ploughing, the Ferguson Ploughing Championship, horticultural ploughing and high cut tractor ploughing. One of the major family attractions will be the horse ploughing with a dozen pairs of