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Next year’s National Plowing Championships will be held in Ratheniska, Co Laois, on September 15, 16, 17 and 18.
The announcement was made tonight by NPA CEO Anna May McHugh.
She said next year’s event will be a particularly special year as it will be the 90th anniversary of the National Plowing Championship and will also see the celebration of the World Competition with international competitors and visitors from more than 20 countries.
The NPA said the site in Ratheniska is ideal as it has all the criteria to qualify as a great location with large plowed land, an easily accessible road network combined with a beautiful scenic setting in central Ireland.
For three days each September, the Plow Championship draws 300,000 people from around the world to view its exhibitions and trade shows.
The cancellation of this year’s event for the first time since the foot-and-mouth disease crisis in 2001 was a major loss for the Carlow area, with an annual economic impact estimated at around € 45 million.
The championships are still recovering from losses as a result of Storm Ali’s interruption in the 2018 event. Its impact resulted in a 12% decrease in revenue, from € 5.6 million to € 4.97 million .
Some of these losses were recouped last year when glorious weather saw a record 297,000 people attending the Fenagh event, while the balance sheet for the national plow company remains strong – accounts at the end of January 2019 showed that the company had accumulated profits of 13.3 million euros.
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