Record crowds have attended this week's National Ploughing Championships, which ended this evening in Co Kilkenny.
Up to 55,000 people were present in Cuffesgrange today, bringing to 208,000 the number of patrons who have visited the event since Tuesday.
That figure makes it the best attended three-day event in the 77-year history of the championships.
The event will be held next year near Athy in Co Kildare, where the first championships were staged in 1931.
The head of the National Ploughing Association, Anna May McHugh, said she would not like the event to grow any bigger.
Ms McHugh said at no stage did she consider cancelling the event because of the recent bad weather.
She said the sunshine of the past week had helped to make it one of the most enjoyable championships ever.
Despite the high level of dust on site, Ms McHugh said it was still a very pleasant championship.
