The price of diesel may be continuing to rise but that’s not a problem for a number of members of Roscommon Ploughing Association who have come up with a novel solution – opting instead for manpower to pull a plough. It’ll be out with the tractors and even the horses for this novelty event that will be staged for the very first time anywhere in the country at the annual Roscommon Ploughing Championships in Kiltoom on Sunday, 6th of April. Go along on the day and witness exactly how many men it will take to do the work of a single horse and pull the plough. Up to 10,000 expected in Kiltoom on Sunday The chief steward for the ploughing championships is Johnny Gallagher. He will be responsible for moving the huge crowds in and out of the ploughing festival site and if, as one hopes it will be, the day is fine, there could be between 5,000 and 10,000 people at the event. Mr. Gallagher explained how they are going to tackle the thorny issue of traffic and car parking. ‘We have had great co-operation from the local gardai in this matter and I can guarantee that there will be no hold-ups in terms of traffic or parking. We will be operating a one-way system into and out of the site at Ardmullen and there will be no hold-ups for any longer that 10 to 15 minutes for anyone regardless of the size of the crowd and we are very confident about that. We have 25 acres of parking space and it will all be fully stewarded’ he said. ‘We have had marvellous co-operation from the Kiltoom IFA and St. Brigids GAA club and they will all be out helping with the stewarding on the day.’ Trade Stands record to be broken Thomas Neilan looks after the Trade Stands at the Ploughing Championships and he says that this year’s exhibition will be the biggest yet. ‘Last year we had over 50 stands and we will beat that figure easily this year. We have had huge interest in this year’s event and if anyone wants to make an enquiry about trade stands, even at this late stage, you can contact me. We expect the stands to begin arriving on Wednesday and Thursday and we expect that there will be up to 60 stands this year’ he concluded.
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