ON THE RUN: The Nobber Vintage Club annual vintage tractor run passing through Killarney town last year. Photo: Eamonn Keogh

By Sean Moriarty

A fleet of up to 50 vintage tractors, cars and motorcycles will pass through Killarney this Friday afternoon as members of Nobber Vintage Club in County Meath host their annual visit to the county.

One local charity, The Seamus O’Brien Fund, will benefit from the charity run, organised by the Meath-based club.

The Firies man, who lost his leg in a construction accident in 2018, has strong family ties to County Meath. His wife Ruth is from the Royal County and when they returned to Ireland after a spell in London Seamus played football with the local Seneschalstown GAA Club before eventually settling in Seamus’s home village of Firies.

The participants will raise also money for the Marie Keating Foundation.

The group, who have been running the Ring of Kerry run since 2011, will leave the Meath town on Wednesday and drive their vintage tractors to Killarney.

Local man Tony Wharton is taking his 50-year-old John Deere tractor to Nobber in time for the start and will participate in the entire run with support from Barleymount’s Pat O’Brien who will drive a back-up vehicle.

The fleet is expected in Killarney around 2.30pm on Friday and will parade through the town. They will be joined by between 25 and 30 members of Killarney Valley Classic and Vintage Club (KVCVC) on arrival in Kerry and the local members will also participate in Saturday’s Ring of Kerry run.

The group will overnight in Fossa and the participating tractors will be on display at Tom Wharton’s farm in Fossa.

“Seamus has been through a hard time and deserves everything we can do to support him,” Mr Wharton told the Killarney Advertiser. “It was my idea to include a local charity and the Nobber Club agreed because it is also local to them. They have been coming here since 2011 and have left a nice few Euros in the locality.”

On Saturday, the convoy will complete the Ring of Kerry run, via the Gap of Dunloe and the finish line in Fossa before returning to Nobber on Monday morning.

The group will have driven over one thousand kilometres by the time they return to Meath on Wednesday August 26.