Yorkshireman Simon Witty has won the reversible title at the 2007 World Ploughing Contest, and is the first ploughman ever to have won the world title four times in a row.

This was only Simon’s fourth appearance in the England Team at the World Ploughing Contest, which took place this year at the University of Agriculture, Kaunas, Lithuania, on September 14th and 15th. He has won the title each time.

Thirty year old Simon - an arable farmer and agricultural engineer from East Lutton, near Malton, North Yorkshire - scored a total of 392 points over the two days, comfortably beating second-placed Andrew Mitchell Snr by a by a 34-point margin. Northern Ireland’s David Wright was third with 344 points.

The UK featured no less than six times in the top four places in both the Reversible and Conventional Contests this year. The conventional title was won by Northern Ireland’s David Gill with 369.5 points, beating last year’s world champion, Andrew Mitchell Jnr from Scotland, into second place with 351 points. Christian Fischereder from Austria was third with 338.5 points and just 3 points behind in fourth place was England’s Adrian Brewer.

As always the competition was fierce with 58 ploughmen representing 29 countries, including three past world champions. The event was very well organised and the hospitality given by the Lithuanian Ploughing Association was second to none. However, ploughing conditions were difficult for the competitors with some plots heavy in places and lighter spots in others, and some plots were not as level as ploughmen could have hoped for.

Speaking immediately after the Contest, Ken Chappell, who represents England on the Board of the World Ploughing Organization, the organisers of the Contest, said: “This is a remarkable result for Simon Witty. To compete in the World Ploughing Contest four times and to take the title each time is incredible. Three times in a row was the previous record, made by Northern Ireland’s Hugh Barr in the 1950s. ”

Ken Chappell is also Executive Director of the Society of Ploughmen and is responsible for organising the British National Ploughing Championships each year and for the selection and management of the England World Ploughing Team. The England team are sponsored by National Grid, Goodyear and Firestone.

Adrian Brewer will now be preparing to defend his British National title at next month’s British National Ploughing Championships. These are being held at Crockey Hill, near York on October 13th and 14th . Simon Witty has decided to take a well earned rest from ploughing matches for the rest of the year.

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