Patrick Shalvey drove almost 21km in his tractor – in reverse
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
An Irish farmer drove his tractor, and himself, into the Guinness World Records.
Patrick Shalvey from Cavan, about an hour and a half away from Dublin, set a new record for the longest journey driving a tractor and trailer in reverse, at 20.16 kilometres (12.5 miles).
The previous record of 17 km was set by fellow Irishman Eamonn Hickson in August 2014.
To qualify for the record, Shalvey had to use a commercially available tractor and trailer with no modifications.
He connected a trailer to his Case IH 956XL and headed, in reverse, down the N3 road, using a GPS to document the trip.
Two and a half hours later, Shalvey and his supporters were given the record-breaking news by Guinness World Record adjudicator Jack Brockbank.
“I can now confirm that he covered an amazing 20.16 km and this is, therefore, a new Guinness Records title,” Brockbank said in a video.
Once the record became official, Shalvey thanked those who cheered him on.
“I’m thrilled with that result. It is just fantastic,” he told Irish news outlets. “It was very enjoyable doing (the trip) and I had great help along the road. It is fantastic to be able to beat (the County of) Kerry in something! It was two and a half hours and my neck was a bit sore afterwards but I had a bit of physio. It was worth it – to get that result tonight was really, really good.”
Shalvey wasn’t the only person from Cavan to set a new world record.
Barry John Crowe set a new world record for the number of sausages made in 60 seconds.
His record of 78 sausages beat the previous record of 60 set by Tim Brown last July.
Each sausage had to be four inches long and unbroken.
“It is a great achievement, I am delighted to be able to have done it. It came as a bit of a surprise to be asked to do it, so to be able to manage it on live television is great. Having the name in the Guinness World Record is definitely a bonus!” he told RTÉ One's “Big Week on the Farm.”