Kildalton College in Piltown, County Kilkenny was the host for the 2024 Macra and Teagasc Colleges Challenges Day on Wednesday 14th February 2024. Teams of 12 students from Teagasc and private agricultural colleges around the country competed in sport, presentations, and land based skills learned during the college year such as stock judging, tractor driving, fencing and teamwork challenges.
The overall winners this year were Kildalton College, winning on home soil.
Participants must work as a team and draw on their skills, knowledge and experience to safety and efficiently complete tasks learned during their course. The competition is open to all full time Level 5 Certificate students in all disciplines, agriculture, horticulture, forestry and equine.
Dr AnneMarie Butler, Head of Education, Teagasc said; “The annual Challenges Day is a key event on the Teagasc Education calendar. It’s great to see learners and staff from all the colleges getting to know each other, competing and having fun. With the variety of challenges, there is an event for all interests and skills. We are delighted to work with Macra, FRS, NBI and TOWI in bringing this event to fruition and wish all learners continued best wishes in their courses and personal development.”
The event is run in collaboration with Macra with key events sponsored and organised with Farm Relief Services (FRS), National Broadband Ireland (NBI) and Tug-o-War Ireland (TOWI).
The winners of the different challenges were:
Tug of War – Kildalton College
Simulator Challenge – Clonakilty Agricultural College
NBI Farm Business and Technology Award – Kildalton College
FRS Scholarship – Mountbellew Agricultural College
Stock Judging – Mountbellew Agricultural College
Team Tractor Driving Competition – Clonakilty Agricultural College
FRS Fencing – Clonakilty Agricultural College
Problem Solving Competition – Kildalton College
Final Team Challenge – Kildalton College
Compiled (incl. pics) by Carmel Finlay and James Maher, Teagasc
