CHRIS LOWREY
ST. ALBERT Aug. 11, 2019
Several Pontiac residents got a chance to have their names etched into the history books when they helped set the Guinness World Record for . . .
the largest antique threshing event on Aug. 11 in St. Albert, Ont.
Lawrence Derouin and his family, along with neighbour Réjean Meilleur, were in St. Albert with two threshers built in the 1920s and 40s.
In all, there were 243 threshers chugging away at the same time to set the record.
Threshers are a type of farm equipment that separates the seeds from the husks and stalks of grain.
In order to break the previous record – set in 2016 with a total of 139 threshers – the machines had to work continuously for 15 minutes.
It’s the latest salvo in a back and forth tug-of-war between Eastern and Western Canada for threshing supremacy.
This most-recent record was done to regain the crown from organizers in Manitoba who set the 2016 record, which broke the previous record set in 2015 in St. Albert.
“It was pretty active,” Derouin said of the sight of 243 antique threshers kicking dust and diesel fumes into the air.
Since the record has been changing hands on a regular basis between easterners and westerners, Derouin is sure there will be a response from across the country.
“They might try in a couple of years,” he said. “But it’s a pretty tough one to beat, that’s for sure.”
