Youths win big at International Plowing Match

A 16-year-old Chatham-Kent high school student has money for post-secondary education after he was named the top youth at the International Plowing Match in West Nipissing in Northern Ontario from Sept. 17-21.

Matthew Sterling of Pain Court received the $2,500 Barb Mcallister Memorial Scholarship after winning the youth competition at the IPM. The competition is for anyone from 16 to 20 years old.

Matthew also won the Eliot Moses Memorial award for those born after 1995 and participated in specific events, and the Graeme, Helen and Michael Craig Special award, which is given to those who qualified to compete in the 2020 Canadian championships in Manitoba. This was his first year competing at the IPM.

Cecilia Diebold of Ayr received the Harold Nie Memorial Special award for highest aggregate score in Class 1 by a first-time competitor, while 13-year-old Austin Brodhaecker of Ayr won the Fred and Helen Davenport Memorial Award for someone under the age of 16 with the highest aggregate score in four days of plowing.