Ireland’s Pelé of ploughing vying for five

Eamonn’s ploughing CV is eye-watering. Among the long list of achievements are 15 senior national titles, 21 national titles, and four World Ploughing Championships runner-up titles.

And that is just for starters. But the cherry on top of his long competitive-ploughing career is his four-time world-ploughing accolade, the most recent victory coming in 2022. This year, he is vying for number five when he competes in Latvia in October.
Last year was a very special year to win the fourth title as the World Ploughing Championships, unexpectedly, furrowed Irish soil. Originally scheduled to take place in Russia in 2022, the World Ploughing Organization cancelled the event due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Our National Ploughing Association (NPA) stepped in, and it was hosted alongside the 91st National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, Co. Laois.
“It was very special,” says Eamonn. “I was lucky enough, that was my second time to plough in Ireland at a world competition. I ploughed in Carlow in 2006, and when I look back now, I suppose I was a bit greener then, I hadn’t got the experience that I have now. And that stood to me last year.
“It was special in a few ways. I won the conventional class and there were three or four of us who had won that event [at world level] three times, so I was the first to win it four times. That was a nice little feather.”
But will revenge be served this year, does he think, as his ploughing peers try to match that number? “Of course, but fortunately for me, a few of them have retired,” he laughs. “But another Irishman could possibly match that record yet. Martin Kehoe from Wexford has won it three times, and he is still one of my main rivals,” says Eamonn.

Early days

Ploughing is in the Tracey family DNA. Eamonn’s late father, John, who sadly passed away in May this year, was a ploughman. He started when he was just 12 years’ following in his father’s footsteps.
“My father was the main reason I started ploughing,” says Eamonn. “We just grew up with ploughing in my house. It was my main sport when I was young, as it was with him [father]. We would go to all the ploughing matches and the National Ploughing Championships every year.”
His earliest ploughing-related memory, he says, goes all the way back to 1973, when his father placed second in the World Ploughing Championships, which took place in Ireland that year. “Although he never won the title, he was runner-up six times, which was a great achievement. In 1973, I do remember the celebrations back in the local community hall, it was a massive night.” Having his father present in Ratheniska last year made the occasion all the more precious, Eamonn says. “Ah, he was always very proud of my achievements, and my sons’ ploughing also, and I think he got a greater kick out of my ploughing and theirs’ than he did out of his own.” But last year’s victory was also bittersweet for Eamonn as his beloved wife, Ailish, was no longer with him. She died in 2020, much too young, he says. And he paid tribute to the huge unwavering support she gave him down through the years as his competitive ploughing took him all around the world.

Ploughing your own furrow

While the opportunity and inspiration to plough was provided by his father, Eamonn says he ploughed his own furrow when it came to developing and honing his skills. “When I started, I learned everything from him. But ploughing is an individual sport, so the very first time I ever competed in a ploughing competition, he got a neighbour to help me because he was ploughing himself. He kind of let me off on my own, because it is the best way to learn. That was his philosophy and it is mine also with my own sons, Seán who is 32 and Steve who is 28. “They both compete in the conventional class also, and Seán is now becoming one of my main rivals,” he laughs.

Machinery

Competitive-ploughing machinery is very much reserved for the competitive field nowadays, explains Eamonn. When his father started ploughing, he did so with an old Fordson tractor and a trailer plough, and such machinery would have been at home on the farm of the day. “He would come home from a competition and that plough would be out on the farm the next day,” says Eamonn. But, as farming has evolved at an exceptional rate, so too has the type of machinery required.
“Myself and my two sons have three tractors just for competition ploughing. I plough with a Valtra A95, a 95hp, four-wheel drive tractor; my son, Seán ploughs with a Massey 4455, again, a 95hp, four-wheel drive tractor; and my other son, Steve, ploughs with an older 1987 Ford 6610 four-wheel drive, which is about a 65-70hp tractor.
“Up to maybe six or seven years ago, on the farm, we were using 95hp tractors, but in the meantime, we have bigger sprayers, so we need bigger tractors, so we are using 170hp tractors now.”
Unsurprisingly, the plough of choice for the vast, vast majority of competitive ploughers comes from Kverneland before it undergoes necessary modification. “I still buy the Kverneland shares, but as soon as I get them home, I have the angle grinder and the welder out to make the changes I need,” says Eamonn. "And all our mould boards are our own design. When I am ploughing, I would have different sets of shares in the tractor with me and when I go into a field, I will know which will suit the soil better.”
These modifications are all within the rules and regulations that are set out by the World Ploughing Organization, and there is, unsurprisingly, huge interest among the ploughers in the various changes that have been made. “We are always looking at the competitors’ machinery. You might see another competitor doing something very well in the field so you would like to look and see what they are using,” says Eamonn.

Prepping for ploughing

The only way to plough better is to plough more. But while you may have put the hours in, modified the plough, serviced the tractor, some things are just outside of your control, says Eamonn: “The ground changes from year to year, and even from day to day, and the weather has an awful impact on ploughing. The amount of moisture in the soil changes so fast – as it dries out, or gets wetter – and it totally changes the settings on your plough.” But this is where experience separates the ploughmen from the ploughboys, I suggest. Of course, experience is essential, Eamonn agrees, but he divulges that much of his skill is almost instinctual.
“If you asked me, how do I know what to do [according to field conditions], I can’t answer. Maybe it is a gift that I have, maybe I have an eye for it. I would just know how to set up the plough. Experience is everything, but there is something there, that I have and other top ploughmen and ploughwomen have, and I can’t explain it, that we are able to see certain things in the field.”
Earlier in our conversation, Eamonn mentioned how humble his father was when it came to his ploughing achievements. It is true to say that he certainly inherited the same trait. And as he goes on to compete nationally, and strive for five at the world champs, we wish Eamonn the very best of luck.