National Ploughing Championships 2012 in New Ross

baronflyguy

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0401/ploughing.html

The National Ploughing Championships will be held in Co Wexford in 2012.
This year's event will take place in Athy, Co Kildare, for the third year running. 2011 is the 80th anniversary of the Ploughing Association.
This morning, Minister for Agriculture, Marine & Food Simon Coveney announced that the championships will be returning to Wexford in 2012 for the first time in 14 years.
They will be held on a site at Heathpark, New Ross.
Managing Director of the National Ploughing Association Anna May McHugh said the championships are one of the best showcases for agriculture and rural industry in western Europe.
The National Ploughing Championships have an average attendance of 180,000 visitors and over 1,000 exhibitors.
Mr Coveney described the championships as a celebration of all that is good about our most important indigenous industry.
The minister said he believes that this industry has huge potential to contribute to economic growth, employment and exports and I intend to do my utmost to ensure this potential is realised.
He is confident that if all stakeholders in the sector continue to work together embracing the positive spirit that led to the Food Harvest 2020 blueprint for the future development of the sector, it will add greatly to the overall revitalisation of the Irish economy.

Is this on mid Sept every year or does it change?
Where is Heathpark in New Ross?

Should be good event to attend. I havent ever been to one before, but I have heard it is great day out.

- BFG

Cantona's Collars

It's been in Athy for the past 2 years,a good day out especially if the weather is good.Even if you're not into ploughing it's got plenty for everyone.
It attracts massive crowds which will boost the local economy.

laughter189

This is great news , especially for New Ross area.

Afaik - Heathpark is just off the N25 - close to Ballinaboola .

I'll let Richie Kavanagh explain what its about :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwGvQKnU0EU

1966

Me thinks itsnear old Ross

ihatetractors

It's in ballinaboola, out the wexford road. Will be about 60 or 70000 there every day for 3 days. Usualy in the 3rd week of september.

RadioRetro

This is fantastic news for the area, the NPC is huge, the size of a small town.

I've been at a few in my OMAC role and it will bring in a massive amount to the local economy.

Wasn't in Athy last year but in '09 average attendance over the three days was around 50,000!

bruschi

it was actually announced last October, not sure why the media have picked up on it now.

bkehoe

bruschi wrote: »

it was actually announced last October, not sure why the media have picked up on it now.

Probably because the official announcement was on Friday and only recently did the landowners know it was confirmed.

bkehoe

1966 wrote: »

Me thinks itsnear old Ross

Just under 1km from Old Ross. Beside my house lol

allthedoyles

This is a massive opportunity for the local traders to make hay while the sun shines .

Town Council MUST give free parking in New Ross for the 3 days too .

New Ross N25 will be gridlock for the 3 days . - we know that already .

daddy_boy

Free parking !!:D - and the swimming pool might be built as well !!

allthedoyles

On 25th - 27th September expecting 200,000 visitors .

Looking forward to this .

Anyone with news on Irelands largest farming festival should post here :

St Senan

I merged both threads as the new thread updates the old thread.

allthedoyles

I wonder if many local business took up this special offer :

Following discussions with the local Chamber of Commerce a New Ross Business Arcade will be added to the trade arena. Twenty New Ross town businesses will be granted a special discounted rate of €500 for their stand in the Arcade (price excludes VAT or extras)

The traffic plan should work well too :

Traffic from Ferrymountgarrett Bridge will turn left on the N30 and turn right at Corcoran's Cross to access the site, while traffic coming across O'Hanrahan Bridge will travel to Ballinaboola and turn left to access the site

bkehoe

A bit stranger though is that traffic from the N11 and N80 will be directed to Wexford town and up the N25 rather than simply cutting across on the N30.

Dilbert75

Not really - they then come in the N25, rather than clashing with cross-country traffic coming up the N30 from KK, WD, etc.

bkehoe

Dilbert75 wrote: »

Not really - they then come in the N25, rather than clashing with cross-country traffic coming up the N30 from KK, WD, etc.

The traffic from Enniscorthy on the N30 if they used it would come nowhere near the turnoff that traffic from KK will use and there are designated carparks on that access road as well.
Waterford traffic is coming out the N25 turning at Ballinaboola.

allthedoyles

bkehoe

The site works are well underway now and the metal roads are being constructed since the beginning of the week.

There is still an accommodation shortfall though, with people (guests and exhibitors) being directed towards Kilkenny and further afield so if anyone is willing to provide B&B/rent a spare room then they could benefit from this still by contacting the NPA or the New Ross tourist office.

Cantona's Collars

bkehoe wrote: »

The site works are well underway now and the metal roads are being constructed since the beginning of the week.

There is still an accommodation shortfall though, with people (guests and exhibitors) being directed towards Kilkenny and further afield so if anyone is willing to provide B&B/rent a spare room then they could benefit from this still by contacting the NPA or the New Ross tourist office.

Plenty of empty properties in New Ross,maybe the owners could consider a short term plan for those looking for somewhere to stay.

According to the local press all outdoor stand spaces were sold out & only limited space for indoor exhibits left at the site.Crowds are expected to exceed last years 200,000 attendance.

bkehoe

zerks wrote: »

Plenty of empty properties in New Ross,maybe the owners could consider a short term plan for those looking for somewhere to stay.

The closer the better, especially for the workers who will be manning the exhibition. I know of several people who've rented their houses out for the week and a few who've rented out for a month and are earning a very respectable amount. One person even finished off his garage attic conversion to get 2 people in. There's money out there to be put into the local economy but people don't seem to realise they could earn some of it too. If you have a spare room then you could earn 25 - 30 euro a night from it and the person will only be in there for 6 hours a day!

vicwatson

bkehoe wrote: »

Just under 1km from Old Ross. Beside my house lol

Yay ! All in to BK's for the dinner !

allthedoyles

The site is ready :






When you see these signposts , you are 200 yards away from the entrance gates .

The locals best get used to meeting strangers ..............A farmer got down off his tractor today and came over to me , for one reason only ............to check me out

Cantona's Collars

Write up in this weeks local papers,commuters warned to avoid New Ross in the mornings (don't know how they're going to do that? )

If we get weather like we are having now it'll be great.

oldhead

bkehoe wrote: »

The site works are well underway now and the metal roads are being constructed since the beginning of the week.

There is still an accommodation shortfall though, with people (guests and exhibitors) being directed towards Kilkenny and further afield so if anyone is willing to provide B&B/rent a spare room then they could benefit from this still by contacting the NPA or the New Ross tourist office.

can someone tell me how far it is from kilkenny to the ploughing. im waiting there and for some reason i cannot get an answer any where on the net, many thanks and if anyone knows the quickiest route fromm kilkenny to ploughing
thanks again

Squiggle

See here for routes. Kilkenny castle to the ploughing site at Heathpark is about 30 miles using Google maps.

bkehoe

Its usually a 45 min - 1 hour drive from here to Kilkenny on an average day as the road is quite poor with few overtaking opportunities and a plentiful supply of 30mph drivers and tractors. Probably take longer during the ploughing due to traffic.

bkehoe

Progress is moving on rapidly on the site. From this day last week when we had the press launch and the only pavilion on site was the NPA, today there are now numerous tents dotted around the site.

See the attached picture to see how it looked this afternoon.

Less than 2 weeks to go now!

vicwatson

bkehoe wrote: »

Progress is moving on rapidly on the site. From this day last week when we had the press launch and the only pavilion on site was the NPA, today there are now numerous tents dotted around the site.

See the attached picture to see how it looked this afternoon.

Less than 2 weeks to go now!

Super photo.

Who took it?

bkehoe

vicwatson wrote: »

Super photo.

Who took it?

I did.

decdon

I'm going to this event this week. I don't have much interest in farming as such, but would like to know if there are any trade stands there that cover my other interests : fishing, shooting & cycling?

paulaa

There are literally 100s of retail stands at the Ploughing championships. If you buy the farmer's journal the supplement in it has a complete list of exhibitors and a detailed map of their layout.
There will be stands with fishing and shooting gear, I'm not sure about cycling

clo001

hi i am wondering if any locals cud tell me best possible way to newross for ploughin from cork/lim side please

allthedoyles

The N25 all the way

vicwatson

clo001 wrote: »

hi i am wondering if any locals cud tell me best possible way to newross for ploughin from cork/lim side please

Welcome to boards

Map of routes and more info here -

http://www.garda.ie/Controller.aspx?Page=9836

Oh PS - there is already a thread started on the National Ploughing Championships

clo001

thanks a million!!

bannowgal

When you are at the ploughing match and find you need a toilet the arrows pointing to Toilets will not help you much.
I was at the event yesterday and can say that when you follow the arrow pointer signs they give no indication of how far you have to go.
You will find you are going around in circles to find one. You know they are there somewhere. The organisers should have one of those big baloons floating 200ft up indicating where each toilet is.

Green Hornet

I have to say that the traffic situation is nothing short of an unmitigated disaster. Not the site itself but the access routes. Backed way back onto the Waterford bypass the last two mornings. Not good at all.

seablue

Was there yesterday. Drove by M9/Carlow route, followed the signs, no delays.

Had to get a push to get the car out at the end of the day, but other than that it was better than I expected.

Green Hornet

The N25 has been a huge problem. Stuck at Slieverue not moving for 25 mins. Turned and came to the ferry and it's backed up almost to the Dunmore road. Don't know if I'll get there at all. Unacceptable.

ex_infantry man

after slieverue there is a turn on the right for RATHINURE follow that road it'll cut out 10kms of traffic delays to new ross

Cantona's Collars

ex_infantry man wrote: »

after slieverue there is a turn on the right for RATHINURE follow that road it'll cut out 10kms of traffic delays to new ross

Have used that road myself during roadworks on the main road,very handy to skip the traffic jams.For anyone not familiar,it brings you out on the N25 just 2km outside New Ross.

ex_infantry man

zerks wrote: »

Have used that road myself during roadworks on the main road,very handy to skip the traffic jams.For anyone not familiar,it brings you out on the N25 just 2km outside New Ross.

not many are in the know on that one, bet the road will be busy tomorrow lol

byhookorbycrook

The big problem is traffic that should have come off the motorway continued on towards Waterford and it's not helping!!

Green Hornet

Heard that alright. It's a pity because it really messed up an otherwise excellent event. If I'd driven from Kerry only to get advised to turn back at mid day in Slieverue I'd be well 'annoyed'.

fricatus

The Gardaí were blaming the hold-ups on the N25 on motorists continuing all the way down the M9 and taking the northern part of the Waterford bypass.

I think this is B.S. to be honest. Normal commuter traffic in the evenings is enough to cause 2-3 km tailbacks into New Ross from the Waterford side, so even if nobody from the Midlands or Dublin area took this route, there would still be wicked traffic. Remember that this is the officially sanctioned route for all of Munster to the ploughing championships.

Roll on the New Ross bypass. Howlin took some unfair stick from certain quarters when it was announced that this was back on the cards, just because it's in his constituency. But everyone in the south-east knows that Ross is one of the worst bottlenecks on the national road network. It just seems that even someone as eminent as Colm McCarthy doesn't realise this, probably because it's not on the way from Dublin to anywhere else:

Another project which has been accelerated is the by-pass around New Ross, also in Co Wexford, and the extension northwards from Gort of the Western motorway towards Tuam. These sections are not experiencing serious congestion either.

:eek:

Source here.

Green Hornet

2 hours to get from Ballinaboola to New Ross..........I flipping hope it's not back there next year........

germanator

people are driving too slow for no reason thats what causes most of the problems, i drove out today to the match and the line of traffic was travelling at 30mph on the main ross to wexford road the whole way out and there was absolutly no need for it. And the the overtaking lane on begerin hill was not being used and for what reason i dont know!!! I was able to travel it the whole way to the top and pass well over a hundred vehicles and pull back in safely at the top and not one other car i could see at the time did the same, they rather stay behind at 30mph and add more to the jam!!! Then co ing back in it was the same, so much so that the gardai directing traffic through the town were quite irate and were beckoning and shouthing at drivers to speed up

Cantona's Collars

No delays on the N30 approaching from Enniscorthy,only slow moving traffic was when we turned off for the site just outside Clonroche.
A few exhibitors were unhappy with the location,the narrow roads around the site aren't suitable for the large vehicles transporting machinery etc.

Special mention has to go to the teenagers mud wrestling at the food court & the ones who held a 'rolling in the mud competition'.I know some people disapproved but it was funny to see.

vicwatson

zerks wrote: »

No delays on the N30 approaching from Enniscorthy,only slow moving traffic was when we turned off for the site just outside Clonroche.
A few exhibitors were unhappy with the location,the narrow roads around the site aren't suitable for the large vehicles transporting machinery etc.

Special mention has to go to the teenagers mud wrestling at the food court & the ones who held a 'rolling in the mud competition'.I know some people disapproved but it was funny to see.

Ha ! Saw a rake of them on the news last night - love to see the mother's face when they get home !

Someone tell them it's not Glasto !!!

Cantona's Collars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJeZoqvdS84