What is more exciting that 175 combines side by side, weaving their way through a wheat field to raise money for charity? It only gets more exciting when learning that these massive machines in synchronization were moving forward to set a new Guinness World Record.

This was at Platin, Duleek, in County Meath, Ireland, and Derek Casey of Irish Farmer’s Journal shared information about the event, which occurred Aug. 15, 2009.

Casey wrote right after the event, “Last Saturday’s record-breaking gathering of combines will live long in the memory of all who attended. You could spend a week going through the spectacular pictures from the event, because when all 175 machines were lined up, it was some spectacle.”

The previous record was Australian, 56 machines, and the Irish combine event far exceeded that one. “Perhaps the biggest challenge of the day,” Casey shared, “was getting each combine into place in the field. Officials had to ensure there was enough space between each machine to avoid any crashes, while also ensuring that there was a slight overlap between combines to prevent unsightly wedges of uncut crop.”

While challenging enough that there was just a slight distance between the combines, Casey added, “The other requirement was that each combine had to work for at least five minutes in order to break the Australian record of 56 machines, set in 2006. Sounds like a tough task, but it was possible to do this by staggering each combine slightly and by working in a V formation.”

Driver Tommy Hughes, a farmer at Beamore, Drogheda, drove a John Deere 1177 combine and raised 1,500 Euros for charity. Through Hughes, a driver’s perspective was provided of this amazing event.

The Thursday before, he wrote: “I make contact with organizer Michael Lawlor about when we should bring our combine to the event. He advises that it should be brought over as early as possible the next day, as come Friday evening the arena will be ‘inundated with combines.’”

On Friday, Aug. 14, Hughes and his brother, Harry, power-hosed the outer panels of their combine and drove to Platin. “The 3 (kilometer) journey takes only 10-15 minutes. Upon entering the site at the designated ‘Combine’s Entrance,’ we are met by officials who ask our name and address. We were numbered five on the list and so we’re easily identified.”

After they parked, that evening they led a convoy of northern combines from Dunleer on the motorway. “There are 41 combines in the convoy, which is a magnificent sight crossing the Boyne Cable bridge. Even at this early stage you can feel a great sense of camaraderie and pride amongst the participants.”

When the big day began, they watched drivers arrive and prepare. Breakfast was a breakfast bap with black-and-white pudding and a hash brown on the side, all washed down with a mineral. Hughes wrote, “As it happens, this will have to keep me going until after the record is broken, when I will use one of my lunch vouchers.”
The combine drivers met for instructions and were informed how the day would unfold and provided guidelines from officials. “Each combine is to park slightly behind and to one side of the next, with two feet of an overlap, in a staggered line formation …”

By four o’clock, the combines were in place and by five, a helicopter gave the go-ahead to start the engines. “Slowly the lead combines in each section begin to set the pace and we follow suit.
Approximately 15 minutes later the field is cut!
“Travel speed, dictated by the lead combine, was a slow 1 km/hour, allowing everybody to keep up. As the crop had gotten rain the previous night, that morning combining was significantly more difficult, particularly in some lying sections.”

The drivers learned that they broke the previous record and the combines lined up the rest of the evening, taking grain to the host farmer. Casey pointed out this event was completed with GPS assistance from Topcon.

“You can be sure that every last part of the field had been measured to the millimetre,” he wrote. “Remember that the initial target was 100 combines, so the ‘Combines 4 Charity’ organisers had less and less room for error as that figure swelled to 175 machines in the weeks and days prior to last Saturday.

“But it was worth it in the end. Over 300,000 (Euros) raised by the farming community for charity, the Aussies’ record not just beaten but trebled and a real ‘feel good’ day out for those who witnessed the spectacle.”

According to the Combines 4 Charity website at www.combines4charity.com Barnardos, Self Help Africa, Gary Kelly Cancer Support and the National Rehabilitation Hospital were selected as beneficiaries of the proceeds from the event – 75,000 Euros were presented to each of these charities.

Check out the website for more details about this record-breaking event.

Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication.