James Witty, from North Yorkshire, has won the World Conventional Ploughing Championships. On the 5th and 6th of September, he competed in the 70th World Ploughing Contest held near Prague in the Czech Republic, where he also won the Golden Plough trophy.
It marks his second world title win, having previously won the World Reversible Ploughing Championship in 2003. This makes him just one of three people to have won both the Conventional and Reversible titles; a select group that includes James’ father Graeme and Scotland’s Andrew Mitchell Sr, who was also competing at the event.
Despite struggling with breakdowns on the first day, James placed second on the first day and came in fourth on the second day, with the combined points enough to secure him the win.
Sue Frith, chief executive of the Society of Ploughmen, praised the achievement: “This is a tremendous result for James Witty and for England. Usually, you can tell who is in contention for the title as they are medal winners on both days.
“However, this time there were different names in the top three placings on each day and with the points unannounced, we genuinely didn’t know who had won until the final moment. To say we were delighted when James was announced as World Champion is an understatement!”