The dates and the location for the 2023 National Ploughing Championships have been announced.
Next year’s event – the 92nd in its history – will return to Ratheniska, Co Laois from Tuesday, September 19, 2023 to Thursday, September 21, 2023.
The National Ploughing Association (NPA) said today (Sunday, October 9) that the 2022 event, held last month, was “a triumph”, and that Ratheniska is a “widely popular site”.
The Co. Laois site was confirmed as the location for next year’s event at the National Ploughing Championships prize-giving ceremony, attended by over 500 people, in the Midlands Park Hotel, Portlaoise.
Speaking after the announcement, NPA managing director Anna May McHugh said: “We are delighted to be staging the National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, Co. Laois again next year. Feedback from landowners, the local community, and the wider public has been very positive and all were very enthusiastic to see a return.”
McHugh added: “Speaking also with many of the exhibitors and visitors over the 3 days throughout the event, all were very vocal about their wishes to have it staged again in Ratheniska, given how well it worked as a location this year.
“The site has proved popular for several reasons, including its central location and surrounding road and rail network.”
“By and large most people travelled to the site with ease and the minimum of traffic delays. This has certainly helped the event in being such a success this year and we look forward to 2023,” she commented.
The NPA managing director also congratulated all of the winners who were awarded at today’s prize-giving ceremony.
Supreme world ploughing conventional champion Eamonn Tracey from Co. Carlow will again represent Ireland in next year’s World Ploughing Contest in Latvia. Supreme world ploughing champion John Whelan from Co. Wexford will take part in the reversible class.
The National Ploughing Championships last month saw a total attendance of 277,000 over the three days.
The impressive figure did not quite meet the record set in 2019 in which 297,000 attended.
Despite not breaking the overall attendance record, this year’s event has set a different record: the largest single-day attendance figure in the event’s history.
On Wednesday, September 21 – the second days of the event – the Ploughing site saw 115,500 visitors. This was up from 91,500 from the first day.
The attendance figure dropped back to 70,000 for the rain-soaked third day.