Monster tractor gathering garners cash for cancer charity – and sets new Guinness World Record in the process

• Fifty of the country’s biggest tractors come together in one field
• Machines converge on Lincs farm from as far away as Wilts and Aberdeenshire
• Cultivate land for almost eight minutes to set working record

Fifty arable farmers from across the UK gave up one of the summer’s best harvest days to gather their high-powered tractors in a single Lincolnshire field on July 28 and help raise more than £20,000 for Cancer Research UK, and in the process set a new Guinness World Record for the largest number of these particularly advanced machines – the rubber-tracked Case IH Quadtrac – at work simultaneously.

The event was the brainchild of Neil Maddison and Helen Rainthorpe, of JJR Farms, based at Welton Cliff, nearLincoln. Tractor driver Mr Maddison has operated Quadtracs for JJR Farms for many years, and Miss Rainthorpe, after forgoing her career in teaching to manage her family’s business upon the premature death from cancer of her father, John, two years ago, decided with Mr Maddison upon a unique way of marking Mr Rainthorpe’s memory and raising funds for research into the disease.

Well-known for his forward thinking on using the latest technology to grow crops in a cost-effective yet environmentally-friendly way, Mr Rainthorpe was a keen proponent of the Case IH Quadtrac, a special high-powered tractor well-known for its soil-protecting properties due to its pivot steering and triangular rubber tracks in place of wheels. This means that, despite the top model being the most powerful tractor available, it treads lightly on fields’ delicate soil ecosystems, ensuring healthy growing conditions for crops, and can also travel on the road, unlike a steel-tracked machine or one with wide wheels. As one of the highest-powered machines on the market, it also carries out its work with considerable fuel efficiency, being able to pull large implements with ease.

Because of her farm’s involvement with Quadtracs and her father’s respect for the design, Miss Rainthorpe decided last year to organise a working gathering of the machines, aiming to raise funds from entrants and visitors and make a significant donation to Cancer Research UK. A programme of organisation, advertising and charity collection over the past year started the process of fundraising and signing up entrants, and culminated in Saturday’s record gathering.

Fifty Quadtracs from as far afield as Wiltshire and Aberdeenshire were hauled to the field site, and lined up in an impressive array in front of over 3,000 visitors. At exactly 1.30pm, their drivers, each with their machine coupled to some form of cultivator, fired up their machines and travelled away from the crowds to the opposite end of the field, whereupon they turned, lowered their implements and powered towards their audience for seven minutes and 47 seconds in a wall of engine roar, blaring horns and blazing headlights.

That time total ensured a new entry into the Guinness Book of World Records, as adjudicated by a representative from the publisher, and Helen Rainthorpe was presented with a certificate to that effect. Each entrant was given a replica of the certificate, and model 1/32 scale Quadtracs were awarded by Case IH marketing manager Charles Blessley to the drivers of the oldest, highest-houred and furthest-travelled machines.

“We were delighted to help Helen Rainthorpe with her idea and do what we could to generate as much money as possible for a very important cause,” said Mr Blessley. “It was a fantastic day and a great tribute to all the hard work she has put in. To have Quadtrac owners travel from so far, and with such an array of machines, at such a busy time of year, is a great illustration of the generosity and spirit of the people involved inUKagriculture.”

Most importantly, donations from entrants and those visiting to watch the spectacle took the amount raised for Cancer Research UKto more than £20,000. Further information on the Quadtrac Record and the Cancer Research UKfunds it was set up to raise can be found at www.quadtracrecord.co.uk.  

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Notes to editors

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