Veinot wins 2008 scything contest
Record 23 contestants enter 5th Annual
Maritime Handmowing Championships

NEW ROSS, NS: Aug. 24, 2008 -- Perrry Veinot from Northwest, Lunenburg Co., N.S., won over a field of 23 contestants from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in the 5th Annual Maritime Handmowing Championships held Saturday. August 23, at the Ross Farm Heritage Museum in New Ross, NS.
The Championships were part of the Museum's weekend of demonstrations, events - including the New Ross Farmers' Market - and contests that attracted more than 600 visitors. The focus was on making hay as it was done in the past -- and still is on many small farms across North America. In another contest offered for the second year in a row, the Farm's own Carmen Legge beat out dozens of contenders in the open hay-on-a-fork competition by hefting 61 pounds of hay on a pitch fork, 35.6 percent of tare weight.
It was Veinot's second consecutive win in the annual handmowing contest that is sponsored by Rural Delivery magazine in partnership with the Museum and with support from dozens of businesses and individual crafts men and women who provide prizes for all contestants.
Covering the 25-foot course in under one minute, with a swath width of five feet, nine inches and leaving a stubble length averaging six inches gave Veinot a 50-point winning score. Coming second (48 points) was another Lunenburg County resident, Thierry Msika, while Peter Redden from outside of Lawrencetown in the Annapolis Valley, a veteran contestant having competed every year since the beginning, came in third.
There were plenty of younger mowers including Kim Geser who is 14. At the opposite end of the age spectrum came Dave Miller, 97, from Fall River, N.S., competing for the fourth year in a row.

Handmowing results (top five)

1 Perry Vienot
2 Thierry Msika
3 Peter Redden
4 Ron Gass
5 Carmen Legge

Hay forking results (top five placings)

Open

1 Carmen Legge 61 pounds 35.6%
2 Walter Larder 56 pounds 25.9%
3 Martin Stiles 60 pounds 25.0%
4 Daren 23 pounds 23.2%
5 John Herygers 31 pounds 22.7%

Under 12

1 Rebecca Cunningham 33 pounds 31.0%
2 William Austin 13 pounds 26.3%
3 Megan Redden 14 pounds 24.6%
4 Brandon Cunningham 10 pounds 21.7%
Tie for fifth
5 Peter Van Schie 17 pounds 20.7%
5 Georgia Van Schie 17 pounds 20.7%



Rural Delivery magazine's Maritime Hand Mowing Championships were once again held at the Ross Farm Museum, New Ross, N.S. on August 23, 2008 - from noon to late afternoon. Sponsored by Rural Delivery, Lee Valley Tools, Co-op Atlantic and others. For details contact Rural Delivery at 902-354-5411, or email dvledit@eastlink.ca.


Sponsors welcomed

This past year, Lee Valley Tools once again signed on as a sponsor for the Maritime Hand Mowing Championships, providing an Austrian-style snath, a scythe blade, and sharpening stone with scabbard as prizes for participants in the Fifth Annual contest.
In past years many other companies and manufacturers have kicked in with prizes which are won by all who take part. We welcome sponsorship in this way. Prizes may be manufactured goods or home-made or crafted items. In return for helping out, the names of sponsors are listed at the event and on a prominent advertisement in Rural Delivery (alongside our story and photo gallery from the Championships). To take part, contact us at dvledit@eastlink.ca, or phone 902-354-5411.


Ross Farm Museum hosts Maritime Hand-Mowing championships