Northern Ireland teenager's success at National Ploughing Championships

Northern Ireland teenager Jack Wright led the charge when he came third in the under 21s class.

The 19-year-old from Magherafelt was joined at the event by his father David who was competing in the Reversible Class.

Rodney Crawford from Comber and Kieran O'Neill from Moy were also at the three-day contest representing Northern Ireland in the Conventional Class.

The event, now in its 92nd year, attracted over 300,000 attendees, including the Presbyterian Moderator, Right Reverend Dr Sam Mawhinney, as well as a scattering of politicians, who all had to contend with mucky and waterlogged walkways and fields due to Tuesday’s torrential rain.

The wet weather put a dent in the attendance figures for the opening day with visitor numbers down compared to last year, and hindered some of the competitors’ ploughing performances.

David Wright, the current Northern Ireland Reversible Champion and runner-up in the World Ploughing Championship last year at Ratheniska, explained: “The competition was of a very, very high standard. But the land varied a lot resulting in some very good plots and some very average plots and I was one of the average ones.

“So I struggled, it was just one of those days, the weather had left things very soft and more difficult to plough. Rodney and Kieran put up a great performance on the day with difficult conditions but unfortunately none of us qualified for the next day’s ploughing.

“However, my young lad Jack came third in the under 21s class on Tuesday. This was a great achievement especially as the weather was awful that day and made things difficult for all the competitors as well as the visitors.

“The media announced 90,000 people were expected on Tuesday and only in excess of 60,000 came. However, Wednesday was a better day with good crowds as it’s always the bigger day.”

Jack will receive his third place award during a prize-giving ceremony in November.

David will represent his country again in 2024 in Estonia at the World Championships and will also plough in the European Championships next month in Denmark.​