Ian’s on the straight and narrow

Ploughing champions are treated like gods in Ireland.

But when Ian Woolley represents New Zealand, people ask if ploughing qualifies as a sport.

‘‘Ploughing in Ireland is like rugby in New Zealand ... If they win they have a big party and a parade down the street of their home town.’’

Ian had his fourth consecutive win at the New Zealand Ploughing Championships two weeks ago in the Canterbury town of Kirwee.

His win in the conventional ploughing category means he qualifies for next year’s World Ploughing Championships in Germany, but he has this year’s competition in Kenya to get through first.

‘‘You get some very odd looks, ‘really, ploughing? Is that a sport?’ It’s a good conversation starter. It’s definitely one way to see the world,’’ Ian says.

At previous world championships, in England and Denmark, Ian says there were between 10,000 and 20,000 spectators over the course of the event.

But it was watching a ploughing competition in the Republic of Ireland that really impressed him. There was something like 120,000 people in the audience, he says.

‘‘The winners of their regional competitions are treated like gods,’’ he says.

Ploughing is a matter of concentration, he says. Competitors are judged on criteria such as ploughing to a certain depth, how straight the furrows are, and weed control.

‘‘You’re going for the straightest, perfect, most uniform plot. Your plot is 20 metres wide by 100 metres long, and you’ve got three hours to plough it,’’ he says.

Before competitions he spends about three weeks practising. His property is mostly planted in grapes, so his neighbours and friends kindly let him use parts of their paddocks.

‘‘It comes back to doing a better job on the farm, we were all cropping back then and I could see the benefits of doing a good job to start with, and it’s just grown from there,’’ Ian says.