Derek Mackarel and Conor Boylan, scored a commanding win on last weekend’s January Navigation Trial hosted by Monaghan Motor Club. Clerk of the Course Eoghan Corr laid out a very challenging 110 mile event spread out between Clones, Smithborough, Killeevan, Scotshouse and Drum. The navigation began just north of the town in Tirnahinch before a two and a half mile road section to Time Point 2 beside Tynan Motors. Here a herringbone tulip diagram plot and bash was handed out which brought crews to TP3 via an extremely slippy grey lane at Gortnawinny and across an unmapped field to reach the TP before re-joining the grey lane out to the public road. Thirteen
crews were caught out here by missing the TP altogether. October COCs Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes were the first to miss the TP followed by the October winners, Aidan Keenan/Sean Marron. From here the event moved to the Smithborough area, taking in two farms at Loughoony and Lismeagh. The farm at Lismeagh would put a dampener on
many competitors night as a tricky stop sign at the exit of the farm left many with 50 penalties as they failed to bring the car to a complete stop. An ITC section took the event from Smithborough to the townland of Cashlan beside Garran cross roads and TP10. From TP10 it was over to Via 1 where a big trick lay in store. The shortest route from Via 1 to TP11 involved traveling a part of the ITC route, however anyone who did not plot where the ITC check marshal was located would end up getting double visit penalties. The correct route involved heading in what felt like the complete wrong direction to avoid picking up the 30 penalties. In total ten crews got caught with DVs here. TP11 threw up a lot of problems for competitors as a shed that should have been closed off, remained open and resulted in the road goes tulip instructing navigators to proceed through the shed which led to wrong approaches at the TP. The first six cars on the road all did this, however Mackarel/Boylan on seeing the commotion, reversed back out of the shed without being seen and got away without any penalties. Unfortunately for Martin Tynan/David McCrudden they were not as lucky and they were hit with a double visit trying to do the same as Mackarel/Boylan. Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock’s event fell apart here as the confusion here caused Oisín to direct Darragh to TP15 instead of TP12,
dropping them a lot of time, and putting a lot of stress on Damien Treanor/Jonathan McGovern who were doing course car, as they thought the event had caught up on them, and the gates not opened yet.
At TP13 a box tulip P & B was handed out, some of the boxes were mixed around, which many crews didn’t realise until too late resulting in many wrong approaches and non visits. Both Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan and Kelly/Sherlock were caught out here, taking a wrong approach each. With having dropped so much time between TP 11 and TP14, Kelly/Sherlock skipped TP15, TP19 T20 TP21 to get back under the allowed 15 minutes max lateness. TPs 19 and 20 were both on box tulip P & B's in the Drumreenagh and Latroe areas. This P & B section proved very difficult as only 9 crews visited TP19 and 11 TP20. From here the event moved towards Ture and through a flooded road
at Annahare outside the Hilton Demesne before a well needed half way fuel stop at Scotshouse.
At the half way point number 3 seeds Mackarel/Boylan held a commanding lead on 13 marks. In 2 nd place was Emmet Sherry/Ciaran Geaney down 70m, 30 of which was for an ITC DV and 20 for a non visit at TP13. In 3rd place was Dereks father Andrew Mackarel with Greg Shinnors navigating. They were down 92m which included receiving 50m for a stop sign fault and 15 for a WA at TP11. An ITC section started off the second half of the event and it ended at TP28 at Lattacapple. The first trick of the second half took place at TP31. Expecting to receive a plot and bash for TP32, competitors were informed that they received it on a p&b earlier in the event. Having threw all previous sheets into the back of the car, Ciaran Tynan had to get out and search each of the sheets for the crucial information. Both Boylan and Sherlock had spied the information earlier and had plotted TP32, but both had failed to notice the departure out of TP31 so they too couldn’t proceed to the next TP. Eventually all three took a chance and went left out of the TP in convoy with Kelly/Sherlock leading the way. The left turn fortunately proved to be correct. The next few TPs would involve constant leapfrogging. On the way to TP33,
Mackarel/Boylan took a longer road section and when they arrived Tynan/McCrudden had got in front of them, and on the way to TP34, Kelly/Sherlock took a turn too early and Tynan/Tynan along with Mackarel/Boylan (who had got back in front of Tynan/McCrudden) overtook them in turn. At TP 34, a tricky farm lane at Creeran, Tynan/Tynan took a turn too early in the farm and Kelly/Sherlock once again got in front of them while Mackarel/Boylan were now out a head on their own. TP35 was a P & B on a newly constructed lane at Drumgramph. The entrance to the lane was well concealed with two dump trucks blocking the way. Kelly/Sherlock were fortunate to survive this section as they went around one of the trucks and ended up being momentarily stuck and while they were praying that the car would catch grip, Tynan/Tynan once again got back in front via driving under the back of the dumpers which were parked back to back leaving just enough room for a car to pass. The approach and departure directions for
this TP were swapped around and anyone failing to notice would be met with a WA. Mackarel/Boylan and Tynan/McCrudden along with nine others were caught out here.
The next p&b was handed out at TP38. The box tulip diagram brought crews through an exceptionally overgrown lane at Gortgranard before turning left on the exit and reaching TP39 located 50m over the public road. It was essential to mark this TP on the map as it was located along the shortest route between TP41 at Killygone and Via 3 on the main Clones-Newbliss road at Altartate Glebe. The overgrown lane had to be travelled a second time to avoid a DV penalty at TP39. A short trip over the road brought competitors through another farm lane at Annaghkilly for TP42. It was imperative to have the car windows up at all times through this lane as Oisín Sherlock found out when, on approaching the TP, he put the window down, just as he spied a large muddy puddle approaching, and before he could get the window back up, Darragh duly hit the puddle sending the contents in through the open window covering Oisín face and jacket. The last p&b (TP43) was located at the end of a farm lane at Creevelea, which had to be negotiated using a road goes tulip diagram handed out in the hall before the event began. The penultimate TP (TP47) was located at the end of the grey lane used for TP3 at the start of the night, before heading to Via 4 which had to be approached via a road goes behind a house at Magheranure. Kelly/Sherlock who were running first on the road turned to go in through a field gate expecting a farm lane, but were met with an open field, second on the road Tynan/McCrudden on seeing them reversing back turned off their car lights and swung in the correct entrance before Kelly/Sherlock could notice. Luckily, they got themselves corrected and avoided a WA. At Long last it was
back to the HQ for a well needed cup of tea after another very difficult but enjoyable nights driving. In the end Mackarel/Boylan maintained a very comfortable win by some 68
marks from the Semi-Expert crew of Emmet Sherry/Ciaran Geaney. In 3 rd place was Mackarel/Shinnors on 101 marks. They would rue a 50 penalty for not coming to a complete stop after TP 5 as it cost them 2nd overall.In the classes it was Mackarel/Shinnors 1 st Expert, Tynan/Tynan 2 nd on 111m and Tynan/McCrudden 3 rd on 114.
The Semi-Expert class went to Sherry/Geaney in their Toyota Starlet. 2 nd went to Damien Treanor/Christopher McMahon on 172m with Garrett Collins/Patrick
O’Sullivan finishing 3 rd on 195m. Ben McIntyre/Declan Tynan won the Novice class on 172m. 2 nd was Kieran McCarra/Adam Langan on 218m, some consolation after Kieran ruined his brand new runners (just out of the box that day) after taking a wrong turn late in the night and bogging the car. The runners were ruined as he had to wade through a considerable amount of cow dung to try push the car out. 3 rd in the class went to Shane Maguire/Ciaran Maguire who finished on 366m. The Beginner class was won by the brother sister crew of Shane Maguire/Molly Maguire, finishing on 310m. 2nd in class was Ciaran McGorman/Aaron McGorman finishing on 391m. 3 rd in class went to Martin Swinburne/Gretchen Swinburne who finished on 415m.
Eoghan thanked all the land owners and residents along the route for allowing the event to take place on their property and travel past their houses. He also thanked all the marshals who spent hours out and about to cover all 56 check points and stop signs. A big thank you was also extended to the Cúil Darach Bar and Restaurant for the excellent food and venue.
Top 10
1 st Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan (Subaru Impreza) 33 marks,
2 nd Emmet Sherry /Ciaran Geaney (Toyota Starlet) 101m,
3 rd Andrew Mackarel/Greg Shinnors (Subaru Impreza) 108m,
4 th Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan (Subaru Impreza) 111m,
5 th Martin Tynan/David McCrudden (Subaru Impreza) 114m,
6 th Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock (Subaru Impreza) 134m,
7 th Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes (Subaru Impreza) 142m,
8 th Damien Treanor/Christopher McMahon (Subaru Legacy) 172m,
9 th Ben McIntyre/Declan Tynan (Subaru Legacy) 172m,
10 th Garrett Collins/Patrick O’Sullivan (Subaru Impreza) 195m.
The National Navigation Trial Championship resumes next weekend with the Cork Motor Club’s 1000 Shakes event. Regs and entry are available now, while the next Monaghan Motor Club event will be the March Navigation on Saturday the 11th.
