April is the time for ploughers to get on the straight and narrow for the 2011 New Zealand Ploughing Championships, to be held in Clinton
Thirty-eight ploughers have qualified for the event, this year hosted by the South Otago Ploughing Match Association.
The competition will be held from next Tuesday to Saturday, with finals for the stubble ploughing and grassland ploughing to be held on Friday and Saturday respectively.
Organiser and current national champion Scott McKenzie said planning for the event began two years ago, but the association had been "flat out" for the past eight months to ensure it went well.
All the paperwork had been done, with only the fields to be marked out and the tents put up, he said.
Helicopter rides on the Friday and a merry-go-round on the Saturday, among other events, would keep children occupied, Mr McKenzie said.
Mr McKenzie will be defending his title at the event before leaving on April 19 to represent New Zealand at the world ploughing finals in Sweden, to be held in May.
Andrew Taylor, whose land the event is being held on, will also be competing, but in the reversible section.
This will be the first time the national champs have been held in South Otago.
With four sections - conventional, reversible, vintage and teams of horses - a variety of ploughs, vintage machinery, horse-drawn ploughs and modern machinery will feature at the championships.
The winners (conventional and reversible sections) of this year's national championship will earn the right to compete in the 59th World Championship, in Croatia in September next year.
