Skibbereen and District Car Club hosted the latest round of the National Navigation Championship. The event which was originally due to take place on the 23rd of November had to be postponed because of a storm. The Trial was organised by Iarla and Eoghan McCarthy. Kilmurry GAA Club was headquarters for this event. The 85-mile event took place between, Kilmurray GAA, Ballineen, Shanlaragh, Kilmichael, Teerelton and Tooms, with a majority of the event taking place in the vicinity of Kilmichael and Teerelton. The event began, just north of Cobblers Crossroads at Timepoint one (Tp1). Next up was Via one (V1), at a road island in Clearagh which had to be approached from the south, meaning traveling a very bumpy private lane in Knockaboy. The Via was strategically positioned as its location on the road island, left it parked unseen on the approach leaving it very easy to miss the turn left into the check point and continuing onward and possibly receiving a double visit if the competitor returned. Public roads between here and to the east of Tooms brought competitors through each of Tp2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. The first farm lane of the night was used on the approach to Tp8 in Teerelton. The first Supplementary route instruction was received here to lead competitors to the location of Tp9. The route instruction received here was in the form of a box tulip diagram, with intermediate distance between each junction. It was turn left out of Tp8 drive past the entrance to the farm lane that just after being used for Tp8. Navigators had to warn their drivers to not automatically follow the car in front here. Tp9 was located in a farm yard in Ballina, that was approached and departed from using a series of long farm lanes. On returning to the public road, it was over Ahaclaur bridge and taking yet another farm lane for to reach V2 in the farm yard. On reaching the public road, Tp10 lay a few hundred meters away.
The event began to get really tricky here as there was a plethora of the next checkpoints within a few squared kilometres of each other, meaning there was cars traveling in all directions and a slight wrong turn could easily lead crews to arrive at the wrong checkpoint or receiving double visit penalties. After leaving Tp10, the next road on the left had to be taken as Tp13 lay just around the corner. V3 was up next which was located in a farm at Coolaclevane. A farm lane had to be used over the road from the Via to avoid passing by Tp11 which lay just around the following corner. Tp11 and Control 12 (C12) were both located in Kilmichael. After leaving C12, the next farm lane on the left had to be taken to arrive at Tp13. Tp14 was located out of the area. After leaving here however, the event returned in the direction of Kilmichael for everything between Tp14 and Tp19. This area included four Tp’s and three Via’s. This area also included three supplementary route instructions for the location of V5, Tp18 and V6. The instruction for V5 and Tp18 were received at Tp17. Both instructions here were full grid references typed out in both upper and lower case, mixed and without spaces. Example, Tp18 was as follows TiMePoInTeIgHtEen,tWoSeVeNfOuRpOiNtFiVeSiXfOuRnInEpOiNtFiVe App. SSE (South South East) Dep WSW (West South West). The route instruction for V6 was received at Tp18. Competitors had to use tracing paper for to reveal the route to and the location of the Via. All three previously unknown checkpoints were all on neighbouring roads just to the west of Kilmurray. The checkpoints were laid out in a way that competitors had make sure and not pass by a previous checkpoint on the way to the next one. Tp19 was located to the north west of Shanlaragh. Tp20 and Tp21 just down the road from Tp19, was the location of the second relaxed section of the night and marked the beginning of the Speed Regularity Section. Usually, these sections are set at an average speed of 30mph, but the section this time was set at an average of 28.8mph. The secret check was located at Ahapadeen Cross Roads, before the section ended at C22 at the Ahanasoe Bridge, over the river Blackwater. Tp23 lay a mile away, and was approached by using a farm lane in Ahakeera. Tp25 which was located in Gortaleen, was where the final supplementary route instruction of the night was received for the location of Tp26 and Tp27. The route instruction here was a standard route card, only with the checkpoints out of order and the approach/departure of both Tp’s simply reading ‘Same as Tp??’, meaning competitors had to look and see what the approach/departure was for the particular Tp mentioned. The event then moved north of the R588 for V7 at Aghnaloobaun Bridge. Tp29 was approached using a farm lane in Lackanashinnagh. Something slightly disorientating here was that the farm lane on the map was on the south side of the road. However, the lane had to be entered using an underpass, which meant turning off the road north, turning immediately acute hairpin left and travelling under the public road and travelling south on the cattle track. The event then crossed over the R585 at Moneynacroha Cross Roads where C31was located.
The final six Tp’s and penultimate Control were all located on public roads between here, Lisacuddy and Curraghclogh Cross Roads. Tp33 was where the only non-finishing crew on the night stopped. Despite having not picked up a puncture, Oisín Sherlock/Colin Duffy were forced to retire, when mechanical trouble struck their Subaru Impreza. From the penultimate Control, it was two-mile relaxed road Trip back to the final Control in Kilmurry GAA Hall. When results were totted up, it was a very tight affair. Two crews finished the event acquiring two minutes of lateness over the 85 miles. Ultimately it came down to who got the furthest into the event without being late. Luckily for the Monaghan/Longford duo of Ryan Treanor/Shane Dalton, they got the ‘furthest cleanest’ tiebreak over Denis O’Donovan/Michael ‘Bones’ O’Connor. 3rd OA went to Patrick Corcoran/Patsy McDonagh, who acquired 5 minutes of lateness. In the classes, it was Denis O’Donovan/Michael ‘Bones’ O’Connor 1st in the Expert class, Patrick Corcoran/Patsy McDonagh finished 2nd and Greg Shinnors/Andrew Mackarel 3rd. Shinnors/Mackarel took a ‘Further cleanest’ tiebreak over Evin Hughes/Pakie Duffy as both crews had finished on 7 marks (penalties). 1st in the Semi-Expert class went to Stephen and Ray O’Neill. 2nd went to Ruaidhri Nash/Brian Oakes and 3rd went to Eoin Longworth/Declan Burke. In the Novice class, it was Derek O’Donoghue/Tony O’Keeffe who finished 1st. Ciaran and James French secured 2nd and Kieran Hayes/John Cooney finished 3rd. In the Beginner class, it was Susan Smyth/Brian Duggan 1st, Gary Kelleher/Seamus McHugh finished 2nd, and Becky Hollinshead/David Forde finished 3rd. After the awards, Both the OA winners, and the organisers expressed their appreciation to all the landowners and marshals who, without their understanding and help, the events could not take place.
The National Championship resumes on January 18th with Cork Motor Club’s 1000 Shakes Navigation Trial.
