The Sun
Wednesday May 30, 2018
11
MARLBOROUGH MARLBOROUGH
2016 2016 - 2018 -
The qualifying process
Local man Ian Woolley has won the national ploughing championship’s conventional class five years in a row. If he qualifies at the Marlborough event he will go on to the 2019 nationals.
Ian hopes to qualify for sixth consecutive national final One local man who has excelled on the ploughing circuit a number of years is Spring Creek grape grower Ian Woolley. Ian will be competing in the Silver Plough Conventional class with his John Deere 5720 tractor and Kverneland plough, in the hope of once again winning and going on to the NZ Ploughing Championship next year.
Ian is the only person to have won five back-to-back NZ championships and has represented NZ three times already in Denmark, England and Kenya, and will be competing in Germany this year and in the US next year. If he does qualify for the 2019 NZ Ploughing Competition, and wins that as well, then
he will be heading to Russia. “This will be another unique opportunity for the public to see Ian, our own champion, in action,” Allan Gifford says. “He will be looking to qualify on his home patch and people will be able to see his new high-tech gear.”
Over 20 qualifying events are hosted by individual ploughing associations throughout New Zealand. The Marlborough branch is hosting its event this weekend over two days. The winners of the championship classes then go on to compete at the annual New Zealand Ploughing Championships next year at Rakaia. These classes are as follows: - Silver Plough Conventional. For the first time in years this class will also include Reversible, a highly specialized class. - Vintage Qualifying - Open Class Vintage If local competitors win at the nationals in the national Silver Plough Conventional and the Reversible classes, they will qualify to represent NZ at the world contest which is held in one of the 30 countries that are affiliated to the World Ploughing Association.
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Who will win the crown? Of the 20 contestants who have confirmed their participation, there are some coming from Canterbury, the Waikato and here in Marlborough. Local names to watch out for are Ian Woolley, Ash Murdoch, Linda Cosgrove and Daniel Owen to name a few. Ash Murdoch who, in his 80’s, has been ploughing for many years and competes in the vintage class. On the other end of the scale, there’s Daniel Owen who is in his early 20s and has done well for himself since he first began. Daniel started out with the help of the Jordan family, who provide him with a tractor and plough, and mentor him along the way, Allan Gifford says. “It’s encouraging to see young blood coming through and he seems to really enjoy
himself. Maybe he could inspire more young people to try ploughing for themselves,” he says. Another achiever is local woman Linda Cosgrove who is the only female vintage class plougher taking part this year, and the only female from Marlborough to qualify for the national championship. “Linda has been ploughing for around six years and has also qualified for the national championships “Ploughing can be enjoyed by anyone,” Allan says. A new addition to this year’s line up will be the Inter-Industry Ploughing Competition. Local companies Drummond&Etheridge, Tractor Repairs and Spares and Norwoods will enjoy some friendly rivalry and test their ploughing skills with their machinery.
These companies will also have displays of their machinery, including Renwick based company Agrivit. Last but not least, the biggest draw card of the event is returning to Marlborough - the Erewhon Clydesdale horses. “Colin Drummond of Erewhon Station will be bringing his Clydesdales again this year which is truly magnificent to watch,” Allan says. “I highly recommend the public come along and watch these beautiful animals at work.”
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