Donegal Eamon Harvey Navigation Trial - 25-26 Jan 14

Posted: February 1, 2014 11:49 PM - 3439 Hits

Report: Donegal Crew Dominate at Home...

Posted: January 30, 2014 9:40 PM

Donegal Motor Club’s annual Eamon Harvey Memorial Navigation Rally took place last weekend of the 25th January, which was ROUND 1 – DONEGAL MOTOR CLUB, BASSETS PLUMBING CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP and a COUNTING ROUND OF THE SQUEALING PIG BORDER NAVIGATION TRIAL CHAMPIONSHIP 2013/2014, with 27 cars taking the start at the An Craoibhinn Community Centre, Termon, with a route of over 120 miles the weather through everything at the crew, with rain, hail and sleet throughout the night

The event was won overall by Paul Reid and Kevin Gallagher in their Subaru Impreza, with an event score of 35 overall on the event from Letterkenny pair of Charlie Mc Monagle and Adian Friel again in a Subaru with a score of 41, one of the pre event favourites, Laghy’s Gary McElhinney, was able to make the start due to regular navigator Damien Connolly not being able to take part.

Clerk of the course for the event, experienced navigator, Karl Reid who laid on a very tricky route and coupled with icy road conditions it was a testing event. Karl said after the event
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who came out on Saturday night to help with the running of the event. It wasn't easy going at times, but we all got there. Many thanks to the timekeepers and marshals who stood out in the conditions to make the whole thing run smoothly. Your efforts didn’t go unnoticed and they are greatly appreciated”.

The beginner’s class went to local men Noel O’Donnell and Pauric O’Donnell; this was another great result for this new crew.

First home in the novice class was Cieran Coyle/ Dessie Dorrian with a score of 97 from Trevor Mc Connell/ Seamus Mc Teague. For all the novice crew it wasn’t as plain sailing with car 18 James Louge and ?Ruaidhri Nash, describing their night as a “bit of a disaster”, navigator on the night Nash takes up the story “It was going well for the first quarter of the event, but then after time point 14 we slide into a ditch and lost about 10 minutes, then damaging the car on a few jumps on the 3rd quarter of the event, so had to nurse the car home to get some points for the championship, it wasn’t a great night but was a enjoyable while it lasted”.

In the semi expert class 1st was Ashley Mc Adoo/ Laurence Keenan with Sean Mc Kenna/ Garry Farrelly in second and Donegal/ Monaghan pairing of Bobby Sharkey/ Mac Kierans in 3rd in the class.

In the ever competitive expert class it was tight at the top throughout the event, with Charlie Mc Monagle/ Aidan Friel having a night long tussle with eventual event winners Reid and Gallagher, however they did take 1st in expert class followed by Colm Duffy/ Sam Johnston who finished 2nd and Michael Tynan /Ciaran Tynan who eventually finished 3rd.

But by the time the event returned to Blue Lagoon in Termon at 2am on Sunday morning, Paul Reid and Kevin Gallagher were crowned winners of the Eamon Harvey Memorial Navigation Rally.