County Monaghan Motor Club

Friday night last saw the annual Squealing Pig Bar and Restaurant, Border Navigation Championship prize giving for the 2010/2011 season take place in the friendly and comfortable surroundings of the Squealing Pig, the diamond, Monaghan. Smithboro’s Michael Carbin and Ballybay’s Evin Hughes came out on top by only one point at the end of a very competitive championship to claim 1^st overall after seven events, organised by 4 different motor clubs, Cavan, Monaghan, Midlands and for the first time in many years Donegal Motor Club had a counting round of this popular local championship. Andy Mackarel and Liam Higgins were awarded 2^nd over-all for there season’s efforts while Michael and Ciaran Tynan were 3^rd over-all after a demanding season.

The night kicked off with a beautiful 3-course meal in the ample surroundings of the restaurant and then it was downstairs for the prize giving. MC for the night was none other than our local voice of morning radio and navigation competitor Sean “good morning” Mc Caffery. He started off by offering a round of applause as a mark of respect for club member Brian Ruth who sadly passed away during the year having competed in the first round of the championship in October. CoC’s for each of the 7 events were presented with trophies for their efforts and then it was onto the main award winners. Novice class had 6 award winners which also included beginners and indeed it was the beginner crew of father and son Packie and Colin Duffy who rounded off a superb year to take 1^st novice over-all award. As Carbin and Hughes came from the semi-expert class this meant that the following 3 crews were promoted by a place in their class, which left midlands men Chris Kelly and Sam Johnston taking the class win. The expert pairing of Arthur Kierans and Ashley Mc Adoo finished 7^th in the over-all standings but took 1^st in the expert class, albeit they did not compete on 2 of the seven events due to their commitment in the national navigation championship which they won for a 4^th consecutive year. Once prize giving was out of the way Sean paid tribute to Squealing Pig proprietor Raymond Aughey for his continued sponsorship and support of this popular championship and presented him with a piece of crystal as an appreciation. During their speech Michael and Evin thanked each of the clubs and CoC’s for running high quality events, to all the marshals who manned time points on each of the events, residents along the routes as well as results teams, Andy and Janice for the bulletins and anybody else who helped out in any way throughout the year.

The night concluded with the customary banter and drinks into the early hours. Once again many thanks to Raymond Aughey and the Squealing Pig for their continued support as this popular local championship goes from strength to strength. Don’t forget if your in the Monaghan town area and feeling peckish the Squealing Pig on the diamond is highly recommendable for food and drinks! 

 2010/2011 Squealing Pig Border Navigation Championship Results

Overall
1. Michael Carbin / Evin Hughes
2. Andy Mackarel / Liam Higgins
3. Michael Tynan / Ciaran Tynan

Expert
1. Arthur Kierans / Ashley McAdoo
2. Trevor Farrell / Noel Hall
3. Richard Cassidy / Stephen Thornton

Semi Expert
1. Chris Kelly / Sam Johnston
2. Darren Babbington / Francis Keenan
3. James Logue / Jonathan McGovern

Novice
1. Packie Duffy / Colin Duffy
2. Kevin Keenan / Barry Garvey
3. Darren Quinn / Nigel McCloughan
4. Donal McArdle / Laurence Keenan
5. Sean McKenna / Gary Farrelly
6. Damien Ward / Macartan Kierans

  Motorsport Ireland National Navigation Privegiving

The 2010/2011 National Navigation Championship Prize Giving and Open Forum will take place in the Heritage Hotel, Town Centre, Portlaoise this Saturday 21st May at 8 pm sharp. Ashley Mc Adoo and Arthur Kierans will be crowned champions for the 4^th consecutive year. Once again list of award winners are on www.rally.ie As always this event will be preceded by an open forum where all aspects of night navigation trials can be discussed. Attendee’s are asked to confirm their place by texting or ringing 086 278 6033.

 Fire Marshal Training

A Motorsport Ireland Fire Marshal’s Training course will take place in Rally School Ireland this weekend the 21^st/22^nd May. This is a 2-hour course dealing with all aspects of fire containment and fire fighting scenarios, which marshals and competitors could face while on events. This is an interesting and worthwhile course. Booking forms are available on the Monaghan Motor Club web site with 4 different time slots to choose from, Saturday morning/afternoon or Sunday morning/afternoon. All marshals who work on events as well as all competitors are urged to avail of this worthwhile course.