No less than nine times in the last 50-odd years has Northern Ireland won the World Ploughing Championships, despite being the smallest region taking part.

And this year, Northern Ireland enjoyed its greatest success in 52 years in competitive ploughing, capturing both first and third places at the recent world championships in Lithuania.

David Gill from Annahilt came home with the Golden Plough, named winner after representing Northern Ireland for the sixth time.

Former winner David Wright from Magherafelt took third place, a major achievement given that he had changed to the reversible plough in the last few years.

A delighted David Gill points out that even though Northern Ireland is the smallest contestant in the championships, only Austria has bettered our tally over the years.

David, who prefers to classify competitive ploughing as a sport, said: " There were 29 counties competing from all over the world - from New Zealand, the US, Canada and all through Europe. But as far as ploughing is concerned we are one of the biggest, because of the standard of ploughing here."

David explains that although he is a mechanical engineer by trade, he comes from a farming background - not only that, but one of the great Ulster ploughing families.

"I am from a family of ploughmen. The Gills are renowned for ploughing - it's a family tradition," he says.

Competitive ploughing in Ulster is dominated by three famous farming families - the Wrights, the Gills and the Barrs - and all three have made their mark at the world championships.

"I am the first of the Gills to win it," David says.

He says he has been ploughing for more than 30 years, since the age of seven - although that wouldn't be allowed nowadays. The law now decrees that you have to be 13 before you can start.

Also competing at top level in Ulster are his identical twin Samuel and his younger brother Richard.

You don't have to be a farmer to get involved in competitive ploughing, David stresses.

Indeed, he has worked in Belfast for most of his life, before setting up in business as a mechanical engineer.

However, you do need to have access to farmland and equipment to practise on, he says.

And he doesn't use just any old plough and tractor borrowed from commercial work - not only are these finely tuned pieces of machinery but they've been altered so many times over the years that David can't put a value on them.

However, he does estimate that a good plough will be worth around £2,000, with the tractor ranging from £3,000 to £10,000.

"It's the difference between your car and a Formula One car," he explains.

"I've done a lot of work on the plough - it's been rebuilt, redesigned and reshaped over the last 10 years.

"You have to keep within the boundaries of the rules and regulations, but anyone can push the boundaries to as close to the rules as possible within the dimensions you're given.

"But it's when you go to the world championships that you get a lot of ideas.

"This was my sixth time representing Northern Ireland at world level and every time I go I see some new ideas that other people have developed and I work on the same ideas.

"Other people at the competitions are doing the same, looking at my equipment and getting ideas.

"Most of the people would have an engineering background - farmers are engineers too."

David says it's difficult to explain what exactly the judges are looking for and it takes years to develop the skills yourself.

It's vital that the ploughing must be straight, that it's uniform and that you get rid of the trash.

"There are technical aspects such as the crown and the hint and the rest is common sense," he says.

But David admits that you could go to ploughing matches for years and still not be able to see how the judges make their decision.

"My wife Rosemary is now at the stage where she can tell good from bad," he says.

"You need to know what you're looking for and where points are picked up and lost. From the spectator's point of view it can be an acquired taste. It's like watching paint dry unless you understand what the ploughman is trying to do."

Northern Ireland put forward a four-strong team - the two Davids, coach Ronald Coulter and World Board member William Hood - who headed to Lithuania for the championships with 18 supporters. The equipment had already left, carried by lorry in a four-day journey to the eastern European country.

While the competition was difficult, David puts down part of his success to the relaxed atmosphere that prevailed this year.

"It was good craic - the team work very well," he says.

"Your whole country is looking on so there's a little bit of pressure there, but this year it was a relaxed feeling and that was part of the success as well.

"In Northern Ireland, you see the same people, week in and week out - you are no more than 100 miles from any part of Northern Ireland. But when you get to world level, you meet people from all different parts of the world and their farming methods are different from ours. Each country is looking for different things.

"The ground was bumpy and that made it more difficult - it was hard work. But if you want something badly you have to work for it. Part of the problem with going to the world championships is that it's costly and without the help of a lot of people we wouldn't have been there.

"Everybody dreams of bringing back the Golden Plough. It's been my turn this year and I am sure someone else from Northern Ireland will be there in future years."

And he pays tribute to former champion David Wright, who took third place following a recent switch from the conventional to the reversible class.

"To make the switch from conventional to reversible in such a short space of time is very commendable," he says.

David doesn't automatically get to defend his title at next year's world championships. Instead the weekend's qualifiers at Eglinton decided who represents Northern Ireland next time. At the time of going to Press, it was still up in the air.

"Everybody's going to be out there to beat me. We have a lot of good ploughmen," David said ahead of the match.

"But whoever we send to Austria next year, I have no doubt that they have a chance of bringing this home again."

David says he had watched others winning the World Championships year after year and wondered if he would ever be up on the podium.

"This year I've managed it," he said.

"Anything worth getting has to be worked for. It's been hard work by the team. It wasn't me that brought home the award - it was the team.

"It's a bit of an adrenalin rush when you're about to start, when you're waiting for the horn to go. You're sitting in the tractor and you're not allowed to talk to anyone.

"You're on your own, man and machine and there is nothing anybody can do for you - that's what gives you the kick."