Cavan men are known for saying "Jaysussss" and for their love of tractors, and this story of triumph is no exception. Patrick Shalvey has just become a world record holder. What for you ask? For riding a tractor backwards... for 20km. A Cavan world record holder? We never thought we'd see the day.
Oh and that's not all: the Maudabawn man will star in RTÉ's hit TV show 'The Big Week on the Farm'. Goals.
Patrick told The Anglo-Celt: “It was a big day, there was a lot of excitement. Now on top of hosting The Big Week on the Farm I have a world record in the bag, it is pretty good.”
So how'd he celebrate? “I milked the heard this morning at 5:30am. I will milk them again good and early this evening and I'll get to bed early then.”
He said it was fairly easy to reverse the tractor and trailer for 20km, which took 2 and a half hours. To be fair, what else is there to do in Cavan?
“It was a straight route, it goes from Lisgrey House, New Inns to Poles Creamery. It is comparatively straight except for the bit at the Lavey Inn. I had great support from the Gardaí and the RSA and the Civil Defence. There was a good bit of traffic at the time, but we made it through.”
Guinness World Records will confirm if the record has been broken by 4 April: “There was one scheduled stop on the route just immediately after the Lavey Inn, but that's allowed as you're still going in a straight line. There was a physiotherapist with us and he just checked my neck for soreness. You can make the one stop without getting out. I am well used to tractor work, I do a good bit of ploughing so I would be used to looking out behind me. It gets more difficult as you get on, but the cheers and the support make it a bit easier.”
Paddy's wife was there at the finish line, though his kids were too busy milking cows at school.
“The kids were at school, but my wife and a good few of the neighbours were there at Poles Creamery when I finished. It was nice,” Patrick said.
The rules of the world-record attempt say that he could not drive forwards at any point or allow the trailer to veer so far off course that he had to correct it.
Turns out this wasn't just a weekly hobby for Paddy - it was done for the show.
“This attempt was planned to be part of the show. There is a lot of material pre-done. The tapes will now be sent to the Guinness Book of Records people. There were two cameras in the tractor and an app on the phone that tracks GPS movement. All that information goes to the Guinness Book of Records before they verify it. They will do that on the show. ”
He should be a shoe-in to smash the previous record of 15.5km, and warned others not to bother: "if someone wants to beat that, they will have to make a good effort.”
Spoken like a true Cavan man.
