Incoming from the TA:
With reference to your blog post re: odd sports. Saw this in Killarney on our golf trip.
And attached, this:
Before we even go any further, can we just acknowledge that – much like the link for the European Tram Driver Championships – I didn’t request this? Furthermore -and perhaps more importantly – can we note that while out in Ireland playing golf, one of my friends (and regular readers) chose to stop to take a photo of this?
I think those two points say a lot about this blog and its readers.
And if you thought that this post was going to end there… well.. you’re clearly not a regular reader.
TO THE INTERNET!!!
It turns out that the World Ploughing Organization began running World Ploughing Events in 1953. The first one was in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada in 1953, and already, beagle-eyed readers might have worked out that Killarney was the second World event.
The trophy went across the border to Northern Ireland with Hugh Barr from Coleraine crowned as Champion. Aged 23 at the time, he had only taken up ploughing a few years previously after the death of his brother from meningitis. It seems that had a natural gift (Hugh, not his brother).
Amazingly, there’s even footage of him ploughing:
And Killarney would be the first of Hugh’s three World Championships. He retired undefeated after his hattrick of world titles: this win in Ireland, then 1955 in Uppsala, Sweden and 1956 in Shillingford in England:
He won both of these latter matches with an increasing points difference on each occasion. As defending world champion, he automatically qualified for both these matches and, as such, never competed domestically after his first win in Killarney.
He had decided no matter what happened, he would retire after Shillingford. And so, as three times world ploughing champion he has every right to claim the title as undefeated champion of the world.
So impressive was his name and his gravitas in the ploughing world that he became the go-to consultant for Ransomes of Ipswich: the world’s leading plough manufacturers at the time. You’ll likely know them as the inventors of the world’s first lawnmower, and they have since gone on to invent the Power-Driven, Five-unit Gang Mower (1964), the Turf Groomer (1986) and the frankly terrifyingly named Magnetic Bed Knife (2004). That last one so completely scary that even the image of it in Golf Course Industry magazine is blurred.
But I digress. Often.
It seems that it would be difficult to overestimate Hugh’s input to ploughing at all levels.
In 2015, aged 89, he was made an MBE for his services to farming.
And in 2019, he was the guest of honour at the unveiling of… you guessed it:
This is all getting a little bit too Father Ted for me, to be honest.
13 teams from all over the world competed over the 2 days in Killarney in 1954. As the monument was unveiled flags representing each of these countries were raised as the Irish National Anthem was sung.
Bernard O’Sullivan – a Killarney local – designed this magnificent work of art*, which will stand the test of time and be admired by future generations who will be reminded of the importance of ‘Ploughing’ and the motto ‘Let Peace Cultivate the Land.’
Sadly, Hugh died in 2023 at the ripe old age of 97. But although he retired from competing in ploughing competitions after Shillingford, he continued to promote ploughing and judge local, national and even international events for much of the rest of his life. Everywhere you look online, he is remembered fondly and it’s clear that he left a massive legacy to the ploughing community:
There is no doubt that the performance of Hugh Barr has inspired the members of the Northern Ireland Ploughing Association to the heights they have attained, with further world titles won by Thomas Cochrane, David Wright, Samuel Gill and David Gill.
And what of the World Ploughing Contest? Still going very strong, having traveled all over the globe: New Zealand, USA, Canada, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Sweden, Germany Kenya, France, Croatia. 2023’s contest in Russia was canceled because… Russia. But they were back in business last year in Latvia, and this year’s contest has just concluded in Estonia, where the first contestant on the list was called Adrian Tilling.
You couldn’t make it up. And I didn’t.
And they’re all set up for the next decade and beyond already, with a planned return to Ireland in 2034, under the watchful eyes of Anna May McHugh (seen in the light blue outfit above), who has been chairperson of the Irish National Ploughing Association for an incredible 51 years:
Ah. There she is now, still doing her thing, so she is. Just last week, would you look now?
And on the right, the General Secretary of the Irish National Ploughing Association, Anna Marie McHugh – Anna May’s daughter.
It looks like ploughing on the Emerald Isle – be it North or South of the border – is in good hands.
* their words, not mine