As the final flow of traffic from the car parks leave this evening, the total attendance figure for the 2016 Championship came to a record breaking 283,000 over the 3 days, with exhibitors and visitors alike thoroughly enjoying themselves, this marks the most successful National Ploughing Championships in history.
Speaking at the close of business, Ms Anna Marie McHugh said “ Traffic to and from the site has been moving well all week and credit is due to An Garda Síochána in no small part and the traffic management plan in place. With the record numbers attending, everyone expected to meet some holdups, but the traffic was kept flowing at all times with only the very minimum of delays.” “We are delighted with the overall attendance figure this year.
The three days ran very smoothly and the feedback from early on, via social media, has been extremely positive. Both on Twitter and Facebook, #Ploughing16 has been trending all week and thousands upon thousands have been updating their status or uploading pictures.” The NPA MD Anna May McHugh said “the NPA are delighted with how the 3 days of the event ran, and we are delighted to have signed an official “Memorandum” partnership agreement with the New Zealand Fieldays Society to seal the special relationship between the National Ploughing Association and our counterpart Fieldays in the Southern hemisphere.”
Kate (16) and Annie (14) Madden with Fenu Health were the popular winners of the Enterprise Ireland, NPA, FJ Innovation Arena “People’s Choice Award”. The hotly contested National Brown Bread Baking final took place in the Aldi tent in front of an audience of several hundred. The overall winner in first place was Ms Phyllis McGovern from Waterford, who was absolutely delighted with her win as it was her second time entering the Nationwide competition. The NPA would like to wish everyone a safe journey home and thank all for making this the most successful Championships of all time.
