A fleet of 22 Cub Cadet INFINICUT mowers were recently installed at Ciudad Real Madrid to maintain all the natural pitches at the club’s training facility. In his new role as Director of Grounds and Environment, the switch to the electric INFINICUT’s is another big step in helping Paul Burgess achieve his aim of reducing carbon emissions.
“As the largest sports franchise in the world, we have a responsibility to set a precedent when it comes to carbon emissions,” explains Paul, who heads up a grounds team of 60 across both the stadium and training complex. “While we’re always reviewing and exploring new avenues to offset our emissions, a number of initiatives including recycling of irrigation and substituting chemical usage for biological control in our gardens are already well underway. A lot of work has already taken place, which saw both the stadium and training facility awarded the STMA Environment Certification last year, the first two non-American venues to achieve this accreditation.”
For the last two years, three INFINICUT 30” mowers have been in use at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium with the latest delivery of 22 34” models n October 2018.
“Being able to run these on electric power ticks a major box for me, and my desire to use clean energy technology. But in addition to that, the performance and quality of cut we achieve with them is superb. The changes in terms of technology has given us the opportunity to create a new uniformity across our fleet,” says Paul.
He also purchased a range of TMSystem Cassettes including the SMARTThatchMaster, SMARTSarel and the new SMARTTurfClean post-match clean-up system. By attaching the cassette to the INFINICUT, the SMARTTurfClean cassette becomes more cost-effective than traditional solutions because it is specifically designed for that purpose – doing away with the need to compromise by using a rotary mower. Moreover, it also performs the task without stressing the plant, which is of huge benefit to those fighting turf disease with minimal chemical input. The result is a clean surface with prominent strips, and an undamaged grass plant cleaned of debris right down to the roots.
Paul adds: “We are very impressed with how this system performs and have already achieved excellent results.”