A team of local tractor enthusiasts traversed the country on a six day tour of the 26 counties earlier this month, raising an impressive €10,000 for charity.
Hundreds of people from all around the country lined the streets of their various towns and villages in support of the cross-country tractor run by a group of Callan farmers.
Callan Macra na Feirme set out on their six-day national tractor run on July 15, with two tractors, drivers and a dedicated support team.
The cavalcade set out to visit dozens of towns across the 26 counties in six days, raising money for worthy charity Lifeline, a suicide awareness organisation, along the way.
And the team managed to do just what they set out to do. Starting in Callan on Tuesday, July 15, the two tractors travelled through county Tipperary, onto Cork and Limerick on their first day.
The following day they set out from Abbeyfeale in Limerick and travelled through counties Kerry, Clare and Galway and into Shannonbridge in county Offaly.
From there they set out on the Thursday and passed through Westmeath, Longford, Roscommon, Mayo and into Sligo. On the Friday they continued on through Donegal, Leitrim and Cavan.
Saturday saw the team push on through Monaghan, Louth and Meath into Dublin and then Wicklow before resting in preparation for the final day.
Sunday started out in Blessington, county Wicklow, and the Callan team passed through Kildare, Laois, Carlow and Wexford before hitting the home stretch, moving through Graiguenamanagh, Thomastown, Stoneyford and Kells and arriving back in Callan.
The run bagged the team €10,000 for Lifeline and speaking after the event, organising member, Niall Quinlan, declared the journey a success and said the group was delighted with the support they had received.
Although there were no breakdowns along the way, he said there had been a few ‘wrong turns’ taken as a result of faulty GPS settings (or operators! ).
He concluded by saying thank you to Comerford’s Garage, Ballycallan, who sponsored the two tractors, as well as to sponsors Callan Joinery and to everyone “who donated so generously to such a worthy cause”.
