Pictures: School's tractor run raises over €5,700 for worthy Kilkenny charity

The annual Kilkenny College Transition Year Tractor Run rolled back into Kilkenny College, raising €5,779 for a worthy local charity.

The fundraiser was organised by a hardworking TY group headed up by Charlie Sixsmith. The nominated charity for this year was Cois Nore Cancer Support.

“This would not have been possible without help from many people,” said Charlie Sixsmith.

“JVW Transport have been incredibly good to us for the last 11 years allowing us to gather safely and depart from their yard. Kilkenny Gardaí Community Policing Unit have again supported us.

“I’d like to thank Garda Aidan Fitzpatrick and Garda Andrew Neill for their help. This year we had Garda Robbie Sparling join the event. Robbie is a past pupil of the College having left in 2015.

“Behind the scenes, Denis McEvoy of Volvo McCarthy Commercials has always been on standby in the event of a breakdown but thankfully again we did not need him. It is re-assuring to know that he is there if needed. Finally there are a large number of college staff who assist in many ways to make the event possible.”

The 50 tractors included a wide variety of makes and models. One of the ‘College parents brought in a John Deer 9500i Harvester, the latest in John Deere technology. The 16km run came in the Carlow Road from Gowran along the hard shoulder before turning right down the Ring Road. It was a short run along the Castlecomer Road before a noisy reception awaited the drivers in Kilkenny College.

A large number of the school community turned out to welcome the drivers back to school.

In particular, four members of the original Tractor Run Committee stopped by to see how the event had grown from the inaugural event 11 years ago which had 16 tractors. Stephen Agar, George Coyle, Wesley Byrne and Dara Bulfin reflected on how the event had grown over such a short period of time.