Father and son forge ahead with yet another winning display

Forfar family team maintain their stranglehold on Scottish ploughing championships

By Joe Watson

Published:

The Mitchell family from Forfar continued their strangehold on the Scottish Ploughing Championships yesterday.

Andrew Mitchell sen won his fifth reversible title, while his 19-year-old son, also Andrew, was crowned conventional champion for the fourth year in a row.

The feat by young Andrew was all the more remarkable as he scored a near-perfect 182 points out of 200 in the field at West Fenton and Queenstonbank farms, near North Berwick in East Lothian.

The pair, of Haughs of Ballinshoe Farm, now go forward to represent Scotland at next year's world finals in Slovenia, where Mr Mitchell sen will be defending the world reversible championship that he won in August in Austria.

Mr Mitchell, who has won the Scottish reversible title for three successive years, was full of praise for his son, a workshop supervisor with agricultural machinery firm and New Holland dealer Agricar at Laurencekirk.

Mr Mitchell, a farmworker with Gordon Beattie at North Powrie, Dundee, added: “He (my son) did plough a good plot today. Although I say so myself it was probably the best plot he has ever ploughed."

Supreme in the vintage section was agricultural engineer John Winter, of 5 Burnside Court, Garvald, East Lothian. It was his first win at the event he has been competing in for the last decade. His outfit was a Fordson Major and Ransomes plough.

Horse champion was Peter Brassett, of Stanley, Co Durham. He was using a Ransomes RNE7 plough. Mr Brassett also won the best competitor from outwith Scotland award.

Scottish Championship Ploughing Association chairman Dave Carnegie, of Steelstrath, Laurencekirk, said the plot ploughed by young Andrew was amazing.

“It really was a great plot. He had a braw opening and he just continued from there. It was outstanding," he added.

Mr Carnegie said the quality of ploughing throughout the contest had been good, with standards yesterday among the best yet. Conditions yesterday were blustery with one heavy shower of rain.

The competition on Saturday was marred by what were termed hurricane-force winds and showers.

Mr Carnegie said heavy rain early yesterday had helped the ploughmen.

“The rain helped the grass they were ploughing on today. It softened the top of the soil and made it slacker. The soil here has been good to plough in. It has a fine texture; it's just a fine silty loam."

There were 139 ploughmen from throughout the UK taking part in the contest.

Numbers were down slightly on previous years, a situation Mr Carnegie blamed on the late harvest.

Leader in the conventional section for visitors was Ian Wilson, of Chester, with Alan McAnally, of Ballyclare, Co Antrim, reserve.

The best reversible among the visitors was Ronnie Coulter, of Hillsborough, Co Down.