Pa McHugh ploughed one acre in nine minutes, 19.96 seconds on Sunday, October 4, breaking a Guinness World Record that had stood since 1989. The Dunmore, Co. Galway contractor took almost 30 seconds off the previous mark of nine minutes, 49.88 seconds, set by Joe Langcake at Hornby Hall in Cumbria, England, with a Case IH 7140 Magnum tractor and a Kverneland four-furrow plough.

McHugh's record run happened in front of 4,000 spectators at the Glenamaddy and District Ploughing and Agricultural Show, held at the Equestrian Centre in Glenamaddy, Co. Galway.

How much faster was the new record?

The margin is substantial by match-ploughing standards. McHugh's time of 9:19.96 beats Langcake's 9:49.88 by 29.92 seconds. It also represents a dramatic reversal from his own previous attempt: at Glenamaddy last year, McHugh missed the record by 44 seconds. "We gained 70 seconds this year," he told Agriland. "Look, we did it anyway, that's the main thing."

The improvement came from preparation rather than horsepower alone. McHugh and his team changed how they laid out the plots before the run.

"We measured out the plots differently," he said. "More into the mathematics, the measurements."

He also set the plough up the same way as "the man doing it in England in 1989" — a deliberate replication of the configuration that produced the record Langcake had held for over three decades.

What equipment did McHugh use?

The record-breaking run used a Massey Ferguson 8735 S tractor paired with a new Amazone plough. That pairing replaced the Case IH 7140 Magnum and Kverneland four-furrow combination from the 1989 benchmark.

Because Guinness World Records sanctioned the attempt, the run faced strict verification. Third-party adjudicators attended, and independent judges — including a garda — measured, photographed and recorded the event.

"The measurements had to be taken down, and done so by independent men to make sure it was okay," McHugh said, adding that "the adjudicator had all the details through the web pages."

Will the record appear in the Guinness book?

McHugh could not confirm whether the achievement will feature in this year's edition of the Guinness World Records book. He is confident it will appear at some stage.

"We've all the boxes ticked on our end, everything done that we were supposed to do," he said. "Everything was done 100%. We'll be in it."

The nerves that might be expected on a second, career-defining attempt were absent. Asked whether he felt nervous, McHugh was blunt.

"No — not a bit — there's no point in being nervous," he said. "You won't win it then, would you?"

For followers of competitive ploughing, the next question is whether anyone can close a 30-second gap on McHugh's mark — and whether the Galway man returns to Glenamaddy to defend a record he took two years and two attempts to secure. Watch for confirmation of the record's appearance in the Guinness World Records book as the adjudication paperwork completes.