Getting a Plough Across the Atlantic to Lake of the Woods

The annual world ploughing competition brings together the world’s best ploughers from over 30 countries. These competitors are the best of the best with each having to win their respective countries contest to qualify for this worldwide contest.

The Irish ploughing team, which will represent Ireland at this year’s World Ploughing Championships in Minnesota in the US, has been busy.

Eamonn Tracey and John Whelan prepared all of their equipment this week and loaded their competition tractors and ploughs into shipping containers, June 20.

This is the start of a long journey for the equipment.

2-Month Journey Across The Atlantic

Both ploughing outfits left Carlow train station in a container yesterday and were destined for Dublin.

The ploughs will then be shipped from Dublin to Antwerp in Belgium. From there, they will travel to New York – the first US stop of the journey – before hitting the railway tracks again.

The containers are due to land at their final destination on August 7; meaning they will have traveled for almost two months.

John and Eamonn will arrive on August 16 to get some practice on the local soil before the competition, which will take place on August 30 and 31.

Eamonn Tracey, competitor; Anna Marie McHugh, general secretary of the World Ploughing Organization; Ann Siney, executive administrator of the World Ploughing Organization; and John Whelan, competitor, loading up equipment for the World Ploughing Championships

Previous Success

Eamonn Tracey is the current runner-up of the two-furrow conventional class, while John Whelan is the current runner-up the two-furrow reversible class.

Eamonn has two other world titles to his name – 2014 and 2015, while John won the world title in his class in 2013 and 2017.

Visitors from across the world will be met with an exciting program with multiple highlights such as the stubble and grassland ploughing competitions in which the participants must prove their mastery, expertise and attention to detail. In addition, there will be local tours, guided fishing, displays and exhibits, demonstrations of agricultural equipment, top entertainment, a variety of local food, beverages and more.

The mantra for the World Ploughing Organisation is “Pax Arva Colat”, which stands for “Let peace cultivate the land”. All are welcome to the Lake of the Woods area for this cultural event. Rub elbows with good people from around the world. Come celebrate and witness history as this event travels to a different country each year and likely will not come back to the U.S. for decades. This event is a competition as well as a celebration of the traditions of farming. All are welcome here!

The event organizer for this event is Lake of the Woods Tourism. Feel free to contact us for any inquires, sponsorship opportunities or questions at info@lakeofthewoodsmn.com or by checking out our website at www.lakeofthewoodsmn.com

For more info on the 2019 World Ploughing Contest in Lake of the Woods, MN click here.