The Race

In France, ‘JA Warrior’ is a popular farming themed event. The young farmers of France, Jeunes Agriculteurs, organise it during the regional agricultural festivals. It takes the form of various different farm-themed challenges, which may include: climbing giant walls of straw bales, moving heavy hay bales, running through tractor tires, or other similar tests of stength and agility — which I must say all sound pretty difficult in such hot weather. However, our Jeunes Agriculteurs had a different idea, and organised a combine harvester race! It sounded pretty thrilling.

We took a position by the fence, to see the drivers preparing, which obviously included some last minute tweaks with a welder.

The young contestants seemed fearless, perched up high in their home-built safety cages, as they trundled to the start line. The flag was waved, and, to a chorus of revving engines, they started chasing each other around the hay bale track, often side-swiping the vehicle in front to try and gain an advantage.

What fun it was to watch, and a real delight to see the support they gave each other to get their ancient harvesters moving.