2008/09 National Night Navigation Championship

Season Review - Kierans & McAdoo Seal Championship Double
National Navigation Prizegiving & Open Forum - (Sat) 18 Apr 09

Posted: April 17, 2009 11:20 AM

The 2008/2009 National Navigation Championship featured some top class navigation skills in what was another competitive series. Competitors did battle over 8 rounds visiting counties Cork, Monaghan, Cavan and Roscommon. Monaghan’s Arthur Kierans and Ashley McAdoo proved what a formidable pair they are on the night navigation scene by sealing the National title for the second consecutive season. No fewer than 5 outright wins, one 2nd place and a 6th place finish were more than enough to clinch the championship. The pair then gave back something to the sport by running the final round in Monaghan. Novices Michael Carbin & Evin Hughes surprised everyone, including most of the leading expert class contingent, by finishing as runners-up. This was Evin’s first attempt on the National Championship. Andy Mackarel/Stephen Thornton were 3rd driver and navigator overall. In the classes, Shane Maguire/Liam Higgins won the expert class, Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan were the semi-expert class winners while Donal McArdle/Barry Garvey topped the points in the novice class. With Monaghan retaining such a strong tradition in night navigation, it is hardly surprising that Monaghan crews have dominated the series. As well as the overall champions, all of the class winners are members of Monaghan Motor Club.

The season got under way with the Drumlin Navigation Trial in Scotstown, Co. Monaghan. Enda Sherry replaced Damien Connolly as COC at short notice and laid out a challenging 130 mile event that took crews to the Armagh border and back. Defending Champions Arthur Kierans/Ashley McAdoo sent out a signal of intent for the season by scoring an emphatic victory. They were able to make the break by being one of just six crews to find TP7 & 8 using tulip diagrams. This was their 3rd Drumlin success and it got their season off to the perfect start. Veterans and former multiple champions, Michael O’Conner/Paul Phelan finished 2nd overall and were over 20 penalties ahead of Gareth Beagon/Stephen Thornton who finished a fine 3rd overall. The semi-expert class was won by Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan who also finished 5th overall, whilst 7th placed Michael Carbin/Evin Hughes won the novice class by over 100 penalties on their 1st event together.

Cavan Motor Club hosted round 2 and on this occasion we had new winners for the first time as uncle and nephew crew Michael and Ciaran Tynan took a superb victory. Triple National Champions Andy Mackarel and Liam Higgins organised this event, with local man Liam as COC. Running out of the village of Cornafean, this 80 mile event challenged both driver and navigator to the limit. In the end only one crew managed to keep a clean sheet and that was the semi-expert pairing of Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan. Round 1 winners Arthur Kierans/Ashley McAdoo had to settle for 2nd on this occasion, just one small mistake leaving them on 1 penalty. The final podium place was filled by Trevor Farrell and Noel Hall on 4 penalties. Declan Tynan/Andrew Grennan picked up the win in the semi-expert class despite some late drama. Once again Michael Carbin and Evin Hughes won the novice class, but only by furthest cleanest from Drumlin COCs Dessie Keenan and Enda Sherry.

Round 3 took the competitors to Co. Cork for the first time for Cork Motor Club’s Star-Trek Navigation Trial. Martin Sheehan was COC for this 85 mile event running out of the town of Buttevant. Champions Arthur Kierans and Ashley McAdoo returned to winning ways in the series, by repeating their 2007 victory on this event. Just 1 penalty behind came the first of the local crews in the form of Ger O’Connell and Niall O’Keefe. Michael Carbin and Evin Hughes put in a superb showing to finish 3rd overall and win the novice class. The semi-expert class was won by local crew Brendan Fahy/Tadhg O’Shea, who also came home 4th overall. A performance worthy of mention was that of Monaghan duo Donal McArdle/Raymond Conlon. This crew were on their first visit to Cork and despite running last on the road, they would have scored a shock victory, but unfortunately a lane blocked by another competitor forced them to take a wrong approach. Such was the closeness at the top, that they slipped to 7th place overall as a result.

Midland Motor Club hosted round 4 from Four Mile House, just north of Roscommon town. Gerry Kelly was COC and he provided a challenging 85 mile event which took the crews to Rooskey village and back. Arthur Kierans/Ashley McAdoo were once again the winners on 1 penalty, 3 penalties clear of the opposition. Gareth Beagon/Stephen Thornton finished 2nd after a great run, whilst Cavan winners Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan completed the top 3 and took another win in the semi-expert class. Michael Carbin/Evin Hughes made it 4 wins from 4 in the novice class and finished in the top 10 overall once again. By now Ashley McAdoo held a 17 point lead in the championship from Stephen Thornton with Liam Higgins in 3rd. In the Drivers section Arthur Kierans was 23 points clear of Andy Mackarel, with Michael Tynan a further point adrift. The Semi-expert class was led by Michael and Ciaran Tynan from Declan Tynan/Daire Hayes and Owen Murphy/Andrew Grennan. Michael Carbin/Evin Hughes were well ahead in the novice class, 14 points clear of both Donal McArdle/Raymond Conlon and Dessie Keenan/Enda Sherry.

Moving into 2009 and back to Cork for the 1000 Shakes Navigation Trial held out of Macroom. Neil Murphy retained the role of COC for another year and a demanding 120 mile event with a start time at midnight lay ahead of the crews. Arthur Kierans/Ashley McAdoo’s tour de force continued as they claimed their 4th win from 5 events. Finishing on 17 penalties, this showed just what a tough event it was with nearest pursuers Alan Shinnors/George Shinnors just 3 penalties back. Ray O’Neill/Stephen O’Neill made a welcome return to the podium in 3rd place on 26 penalties. Cork’s James Fitzgerald/Ed O’Neill took the semi-expert class honours ahead of class leaders Michael & Ciaran Tynan. Michael Carbin/Evin Hughes took another win in the novice class, making it 5 wins from 5, which all but secured the class in the series. John Buttimer/James Kingston were their nearest challengers.
The final round in Cork was run by the Skibbereen & District Motor Club and what an event it was! Brian O’Mahony was COC with the venue in Lissavard Community Centre just outside Clonakilty. With a staggering 64 timepoints and with very little mileage between them, competitors knew this was going to be a really challenging event. At the end of this marathon, there were really surprise winners. Novice class leaders in the championship Michael Carbin/Evin Hughes scored their first ever overall victory on what was their first attempt at the event. Amazingly, they also finished 26 penalties clear of the field. Their winning total of 34 penalties was surely one of the highest winning totals in recent years in any Navigation Trial, a testament to the challenge provided by the COC and his team. Former event winners Donal Healy/Peter Keohane finished 2nd and another novice crew Cathal and Mark McCarthy finished 3rd, on 80 penalties. Semi-expert class honours went to Johnny Kenneally/Ken Carmody in 5th place overall. Arthur Kierans/Ashley McAdoo may have only finished 6th but they didn’t mind as it was enough to clinch for them the National Championship for a second time.

Cavan Motor Club hosted round 7 running in some great navigation terrain north of the village of Maudabawn, the HQ for the event. Warren Carleton was COC and offered a tough 80 mile event. In the end two crews finished on clean sheets and with no tie-break able to separate the crews, the win was shared. Andy Mackarel/Liam Higgins returned to the winners circle alongside Arthur Kierans/Ashley McAdoo who recorded yet another win. The surprise of the event came from within the novice class as Kevin Keenan/Barry Garvey stunned a lot more experienced crews by finishing 3rd overall on 1 penalty in what was Barry’s first year competing. Colin Fitzgerald/Daire Hayes won the semi-expert class to ensure the battle for the class would go the final round with Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan. The fight for 2nd overall navigator was also on between Evin Hughes and Stephen Thornton, with Stephen holding the advantage going into the finale in Monaghan.

Ashley McAdoo took on the mantle of COC for the final round of the series in Lisdoonan, Co Monaghan. 130 miles of some brilliant navigation terrain together with some of the best used plot & bash caught out many of the expert crews. Andy Mackarel & Liam Higgins were back to their old form and demonstrated their undoubted talent by taking a dominant win on a total of 5 penalties. Michael Carbin/Evin Hughes put in another excellent performance to finish 2nd overall, albeit 11 penalties behind the winners. However, some of this could be attributed to having to stop and change a wheel mid-event. They also secured 2nd overall in the championship. Michael & Ciaran Tynan took 3rd overall on the night and also the semi-expert class in the championship. 4th place overall went to Donegal crew Gerard Callaghan/Kevin Gallagher.

So, after eight demanding and enjoyable events, Arthur Kierans and Ashley McAdoo eventually topped the overall points table and secured back-to-back wins. The season was also notable for the emergence of young navigators making a big impression on the navigation scene. Ciaran Tynan, driven by Uncle Michael, scored his first win in Cavan and also made it into the top 3 overall on two more occasions. 19 year old Evin Hughes, driven by Michael Carbin claimed their first win in Skibbereen and also had a string of top 10 results to secure 2nd in the championship. 18 year old Stephen Thornton also demonstrated his undoubted ability with a series of top 5 results, achieved with three different drivers in different parts of the country. Surely a first win is due for Stephen next season. Barry Garvey was another young Monaghan navigator to make a huge impression in the latter half of the season. Scoring his first class points in round 3 in Cork, he continued to gather the points before a fine 3rd place (10th overall) in Skibbereen was followed by the performance of the season in Cavan with a class win and 3rd overall. His late surge of form allowed him to pip Raymond Conlon to win the novice class in the championship after Michael and Evin were removed, as they were 2nd overall. Daire Hayes showed that it’s not just Monaghan that is producing top new navigators as a fine run throughout the season saw the Cork man narrowly finish as runner-up to Ciaran Tynan in the semi-expert class in the championship.

A special mention of gratitude must go to the COCs and ACOCs for all their hard work in organising these events. The promoting clubs, Monaghan, Cavan, Cork, Skibbereen and Midland also deserve recognition for continuing to support this key motorsport discipline. The hard work of the organizers was clearly evident on each of the events this season, with solid PR work, excellent facilities and fantastic routes that tested navigators and drivers to the limit.

The annual Open Forum meeting will take place at 8pm on Saturday 18th April 2009 in the Heritage Hotel, Portlaoise, followed by the championship prizegiving.

2008/2009 National Navigation Trial Championship final positions

Posted: April 2, 2009 9:21 AM

Overall
1st Arthur Kierans/ Ashley McAdoo
2nd Michael Carbin/ Evin Hughes
3rd Andy Mackeral/ Stephen Thornton

Expert
1st Shane Maguire/ Liam Higgins
2nd Garreth Beagan/ Paul Phelan
3rd Richard Cassidy/ Noel Hall

Semi Expert
1st Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan
2nd Declan Tynan/Daire Hayes
3rd James Fitzgerald/Andrew Grennan

Novice
1st Donal McArdle/Barry Garvey
2nd Darren Babbington/ Raymond Conlon
3rd Dessie Keenan/Francis Keenan
4th Cathal McCarthy/ Enda Sherry
5th John Buttimer/ Mark McCarthy
6th Kevin Keenan/James Kingston

National Navigation Prizegiving & Open Forum - (Sat) 18 Apr 09

Posted: March 26, 2009 8:41 PM

National Navigation Prizegiving & Open Forum - (Sat) 18 Apr 09

Provisional final championship positions after Round 8 - Rev 2

Posted: October 28, 2008 11:46 AM

2 revisions to tables issued on Tuesday  

1. Barry Garvey credited with bonus points in novice navigator class promoting him to winning the class.
2. James Fitzgerald scored 8 points overall and in SE class in Monaghan final round. This elevates him to 3rd in SE class. He was incorrectly noted in the results as James Fitzpatrick.

Points after Round 8 - Rev 2

Championship Rounds

Posted: October 28, 2008 11:43 AM

1 Monaghan Drumlin - 4/5 October 08
2 Cavan - 18/19 October 08
3 Cork Startrek - 1/2 November 08
RESERVE Skibbereen Carbery - 22/23 November 08
4 Midland - 29/30 November 08
5 Cork 1000 Shakes - 17/18 January 09
6 Skibbereen 100 Isles - 7/8 February 09
RESERVE Midland MC - 14/15 February 09
7 Cavan - 7/8 March 09
8 Monaghan 21/22 March 09