Real Madrid deploys new Cub Cadet Infinicut

A fleet of 22 Cub Cadet Infinicut mowers have recently been installed at Ciudad Real Madrid in Spain to maintain all of the natural pitches at the club’s training facility.

In his new role as Director of Grounds and Environment, Paul Burgess is hoping to reduce carbon emissions. The electric Infinicut offers two unique benefits to the team at Real Madrid: best-in-class cut and maintenance and improved environmental impact.

“As the largest sports franchise in the world, we have a responsibility to set a precedent when it comes to carbon emissions,” said Burgess, who heads up a grounds team of 60 professionals across both the stadium and training complex. “We’re always reviewing and exploring new avenues to offset our environmental impact, and a number of initiatives—including recycling of irrigation water 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.”

Three Infinicut 30-inch mowers have been in use at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium for the previous two years and the latest delivery of 22 34-inch models, taken in October 2018, brings the fleet to full deployment.

In addition to the mowers, Burgess and his team are also using a range of TMSystem Cassettes, including the SMARTThatchMaster, SMARTSarel and the new SMARTTurfClean post-match clean-up system.

Attaching the SMARTTurfClean cassette to the Infinicut is specifically designed to eliminate the compromises required by using a rotary mower. Moreover, it also performs the task without stressing the grass plant, a huge benefit to those fighting turf disease with minimal chemical input. The result is a clean surface with prominent stripes and an undamaged grass plant cleaned of debris right down to the roots, Cub Cadet said.

Burgess is gratified to improve the environmental impact without sacrificing the overall turf management goals. “We are very impressed with how this system performs and have already achieved excellent results,” he said.